Sky is Falling
by Adorkable Super Dorks
Summary: "Er... Hi? Yeah, we didn't mean to copy you guys, but... We have wings too, ya know. It's not that shocking. Really. Don't stare!"
1. Chapter 1: Oh, Hello Ground

**A/N: Heyo, this is a grounded Jessica coming to you from Abby's computer. Don't tell my parents. **

**Aw, who am I kidding, my mom reads this story. Really, no joke.**

**Anyhoozles, I worked hard on this chapter. I took all of my energy needed for Health class and applied it here. I hope it was worth it. Enjoy. :)**

**WE DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE. IT WOULD BE A LITTLE WEIRD TO OWN A PERSON. I'M SORRY, BUT IT'S TRUE.**

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Chapter One: Oh, Hello Ground

Jessica POV

I'm starting to think that the white coats ran out of proper bird DNA. I mean, really, who gives a girl _owl_ DNA when you know perfectly well that she could handle a different kind. Preferably one that _doesn't_ make her nocturnal.

"Come _on _Matt! Wake up!" I whined. Matt, the sixteen year old in charge of our flock and was two years older than me, just grunted and rolled over in his sleep. I sighed dramatically. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Very carefully, I put my hand into a fist, opened his mouth, and stuck the fist in.

"Aah!" came a startled exclamation, muffled by the fist. Works every time. I grinned and pulled out my fist. "Jessica! What the heck?"

"Oh good! You're awake." I feigned surprise.

"What time is it?" he grumbled. I checked the pocket watch that I had found abandoned on a bench the other day.

"Three in the morning." I beamed at him.

"Go back to sleep," he mumbled irritably. I rolled my eyes.

"You know as well as I do, I can't. Nocturnal insomniac, remember?" I snorted. Yup, that's me. The hyper-active bird-kid that _can't sleep._ Wonderful.

"Then what do you want?" he groaned. He knew better than to fall asleep around me. Darn, I was looking forward to pranking him. Oh well.

"Teach me how to fly!" I was the only one in the flock who couldn't fly yet. I was also the only one who had gotten shot in the wing when we escaped the School. Multiple shots. I felt like a bleeding block of Swiss cheese. The others learned how to fly during the 'do-or-die' situation. But I had to be carried. By Matt. It was humiliating. My wing had finally healed after a week.

"At three in the morning?" I could see him struggling between the idea of not having to carry me while he flew and the idea of going back to sleep. "Fine." I grinned. "I'm going to drop you from the sky," he added.

"Do or die, huh?" I was bouncing with excitement. He laughed at me as he got up and stretched, his wings unfurling as he did so.

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Ah, adrenaline. The only way to describe my feelings right now. I could fly. _Finally_.

I looked down at Matt, who was flying below me in case I fell. Really? Please, have a little faith.

As I flew, I thought about our flock. Besides Matt and I, there were three others. There was Christine, who was fifteen, Abby, who was fourteen like me, and Noah, Matt's nine year old brother. I'm sad to say, I'm the most different of our little group. Of all of us, I'm the newbie. I've only been with them for a month. I'm the only one with no memory from before I woke up to the white coats; the only one to know what kind of bird DNA I was given; the only one to actually _act_ like their kind of bird; the only one without some special sort of power. Christine could turn nearly invisible, Abby could read minds by touching someone, Matt could control someone's speed by focusing on them, and Noah gained knowledge just by touching whatever contained the knowledge, like a book or a computer. But I've got nothing. Except my freakish survival instincts.

Now I know you're probably thinking that my survival instinct isn't special because everyone has it. Well, you see, my instincts are _insane._ If my body thinks I'm in danger, it causes a panic attack. Let's just say I have a lot of panic attacks.

"Did your mouth stop working?" Matt called up to me, unnerved by my silence. I just snorted and continued thinking. Then I felt a twinge in my healing wing.

"Uh Matt…" Was all I got out before my wings collapsed from strain. I fell too fast, even for Matt. I closed my eyes waiting for the inevitable panic attack before my death. It never came.

And neither did the impact.

My eyes flew open.

I was hovering above the ground, surrounded by a purple-tinted shield. A force field. _My_ force field.

Slowly lowering myself to the ground, I looked up to see Matt land. I stumbled forward and did something I never thought I'd do.

I fell asleep.

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**DIS IS ABBY. I will be doing the footer from now until the end of time. :3**


	2. Chapter 2: Meet the Flock of Crazies

**A/N: Jessica here. I only have two things to say besides the disclaimer:**

**1. I LIKE THIS CHAPTER.**

**2. CHEESE PUFFS ARE AMAZING.**

**I speak the truth.**

**A list of true statements: Cheese puffs are amazing, the sky is blue, orange juice comes from oranges, people have faces, we DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE. But we do own copies of the books.**

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**Chapter Two: Meet the Flock of Crazies

Abby POV

Ok, so here's some things about me: First of all, I need at least a minimum of ten hours to not be tired. Second, I really, _really_ hate being woken up before nine in the morning. Too bad Christine completely disregarded these two facts this morning. I was greeted by her bouncing on my bed, shouting, "The new movie with Zac Efron is out! OMG!"

Girly-girl much?

I groaned, looking at the clock. It was... seven?

I took a deep breath, trying not to be too cranky. "So you woke me up at the crack of dawn to tell me this?"

She grinned, and then turned invisible before I tackled her. Ugh, I just _hate_ it when she does that.

I decided to lay back down and get some more sleep.

I guess I should explain a bit. You probably already know, but we're human-avian hybrids. That's just fancy talk for, "We've got wings, honey." The stories on how we got here are a little fuzzy though... Jessica can't remember anything. We all vaguely remember being kidnapped by the whitecoats, but we don't really remember experiences like school or friends. What we do remember is after our operations, though. We also remember the animal - excuse me - _human_ cruelty we suffered.

The whitecoats provided us with food and a shelter, but that doesn't mean that we liked it. Living in a tiny dog cage kinda sucked. And the food wasn't exactly top-of-the-notch either. But we also were experimented on EVERY DAY. Getting a shot every once in a while isn't so bad, but imagine getting thirty a week. Long story short, none of us really appreciated being guinea pigs. So we decided to make a "daring escape!"

After we got out (courtesy of Matt and his uncanny knowledge of vents in the School), we got some money out of Matt's bank account. How did he remember everything about it? He wrote down all of the info on his shoulder. (Oh, and just an FYI - Matt is really strange. So for him, it's completely normal to write something on a body part other than his hand.) After doing so, we got a hotel, and we've been staying there for a week. It was the only hotel we could afford. And let me tell you - it has been a nightmare.

Without any success, I woke up and saw Noah sitting quietly like a good boy and watching TV. I love him. He's cute and sweet, and he's like a little brother to me. He looks nothing like Matt, his older brother - he's got green eyes and bright blonde hair. He's such a little guy. But we all love him, and sadly, this nine-year-old is the voice of reason in our flock. Matt has short brown hair, brown eyes, as skinny as a pole, and he's not even half an inch taller than me. But I am tall for a girl - 5'9". Blonde hair, blue eyes. I guess that's the only positive way I can describe myself.

Christine, however, is gorgeous. She's got blueish-greenish eyes and blondish-brownish hair. I'm surprised Matt hasn't made a move on her yet. Jessica has brown hair, blue eyes, and is a little... crazy. But still pretty cool.

After I rubbed my eyes a bit and watched the news with Noah a bit until Matt came in, holding a sleeping Jessica. He was singing the song "Dancing Queen" in the highest voice possible, and Jessica just slept through it. Poor Jessica... Being nocturnal and hanging with a... err... dayturnal flock is probably frustrating.

Matt plopped her on the bed and started dancing. Christine got un-invisible and started cracking up. I just stared, completely weirded out.

And _this_ was our flock leader.

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**HOWEVER THE FIRST STATEMENT ABOUT THIS CHAPTER WAS FALSE. Sorry for the disappointment... Oh, and SOME people do NOT have faces because they were decapitated!**


	3. Chapter 3: Show Tunes Are Horrible

**A/N: I just realized, I have a habit of ending with three word sentences. I don't know why.**

**Oh and by the way, this is Jessica. In case you didn't get it, I comment on the top, Abby comments on the bottom. Pretty complicated, eh?**

**I HAVE IMAGINATION, BUT I'M PRETTY SURE I DIDN'T WRITE MAXIMUM RIDE. I'M NOT THAT CREATIVE PEOPLE.**

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Chapter Three: Show Tunes Are Horrible

Jessica POV

I don't really know what I expected, but it was definitely not to be woken up by Matt singing show tunes. Loudly.

"How long has he been singing this time?" I groaned, turning to Abby.

"About an hour. He started with ABBA, then moved on to show tunes. He said he'll take requests after he gets to Green Day," she sighed. She was just as annoyed by Matt's singing as the rest of us. Now, a fact you should know about Matt is that he takes it upon himself to memorize every song he hears. No exception.

We never should have made him watch Mamma Mia.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. He never stops. He's practically a radio. I swear, if I ever hate music, it's because of him.

I stood and stretched. Then I started singing along out of boredom. Hey, if you can't stop 'em, might as well join 'em. Abby just rolled her eyes and laughed. I was singing as horribly as I could, which could be pretty bad.

"Morning Noah," I paused in my singing as the nine year old walked out of the bathroom. I got a grunt in return. _Oh sure, _ignore me in favor of the TV. That's _perfectly_ fine.

My eyes glittered evilly; I wasn't an owl for nothing. We nocturnal birdies can get very… Er, what's the word? ADHD? Annoying? Resentful? Yeah, that's it. All of 'em.

Anyway, there was no way I was going to let Noah get away with just a grunt. I snuck up behind him and commenced operation tickle attack.

Mission accomplished.

"S-stop-p! I give! I give!" he gasped between giggles, trying to worm his way away from me.

"This is you're punishment for grunting!" I declared, not relenting on the tickling. Until it was _me _that was being tickled.

"Don't pick on my little brother!" Matt exclaimed, trying to give me a taste of my own medicine, but I just ducked out of his grasp repeatedly.

But then I was stuck; he had me cornered. A little shriek escaped my mouth. I hated being tickled. I _loathed_ it.

"I won't tickle you if you sing with me," he whispered in my ear. I froze. It was never a good sign if Matt _asked_ you to sing with him. Normally he just left it up to us to decide whether or not we'll sing along.

"Depends, what song?" I whispered back cautiously. He grinned mischievously.

"Rockin' Robin," he told me. My eyes widened. That was _low._ He _knew_ I hated that song.

"Quit flirting," Abby said loudly before I could respond. Matt backed away quickly and we both blushed.

"We weren't flirting," he stated defensively, not meeting the others' eyes out of embarrassment. Christine smiled. I tensed at the look of mischief in her eyes.

"You don't have to hide it, we both know you like each other," she laughed.

Protesting started immediately.

But not from Matt.

Instead, he kissed me. _He kissed me._ Shocked, I froze. There went my first kiss. And then I surprised us all.

I kissed back.

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**WOOHOOOOOOOO! Wow. Third chapter. They are in LOVE here people!**


	4. Chapter 4: A Day of Firsts

**A/N: This is where the story starts to get even more interesting... Ha ha. **

**Disclaimer: We do not own Maximum Ride, nor does Maximum Ride own us.

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Chapter Four: A Day of Firsts

Abby POV

It all started with simple teasing, and ended with Jessica and Matt totally making out. Christine and I were in total shock. Noah even showed some emotion for once. All of our mouths were wide open. Any fly could've just flown in and made a home! And given another minute or two, I'm sure one of the five that lived in our room would have.

After maybe thirty seconds of the two of them smacking lips, we decided to give them their privacy. I mean, come on. How awkward would that have been if we all just sat there staring at them? I shielded Noah's eyes as we walked out and shut the door.

Christine's eyes were huge. "...Wow." I nodded with a small grin on my face.

Then, they started getting into a really deep conversation about themselves. We could hear it through the paper-thin walls, so we just left the hotel room to go to the computer in the lobby.

The lobby was bustling with people getting their room keys, luggage, and kids running around, chasing each other and touching the mold on the walls. Eww.

I sat at the computer and flexed my fingers. "What should we do?"

"Ooh! Let's go look up movie tickets for the movie with-" Christine started.

"No! We can't waste any of Matt's money. We need to spend it on things that we need," I instructed.

"But I _need_ to see this movie! It's Zac Efron!" she pleaded.

"No," I responded. Geez. I can be really bossy sometimes. Often times, I have to be the flock leader because Matt, the guy who's a year older than me, is less mature. But I don't really mind being second in command.

"Do you ever wonder..." Noah started thinking out loud, but then he shook his head.

I looked at him and smiled. "What do you wonder?" I asked sweetly.

He took a breath. "Do you ever wonder if there are more bird kids? Other than us?"

I thought about it. Never had I considered this. Other human-avian hybrids? There were a bunch of other experiments at the school. Horrible, freakish ones. I still had nightmares about them. It was possible that there could be more than just us...

"Well, we are at a computer. Let's look it up!" I said positively. I went to Google and typed in, "Human-avian hybrids." When I got to the third link, there was a blog.

"Click on that," Noah suggested. I couldn't really go against his judgement, with his smarticleness and all.

It was called Fang's Blog, and it was by – get this – actual bird kids. I honestly don't know how I didn't know about it. It was an internet sensation. But I guess that's what you get when you have no time to go online back before you had wings. You just don't notice this kind of stuff.

We all started reading it. Then, after we got bored, Noah touched the computer and got all of the information. It turns out that this guy – Fang – had a whole other flock. And then we looked even further back and saw yet _another_ flock that he left. Pretty wacky. We could confirm that there were at least seven more bird kids out there.

Well, Noah was right. There _were_ others.

We decided to shoot Fang an e-mail and told him that we also had wings. It was a little out there, but we really didn't know how to write it casually. I mean, how the heck to you tell some random person that you're a mutant? Maybe I shouldn't ask because you probably are _not_ a mutant.

"I think we should tell Matt and Jessica," Christine told us after we got off the computer.

"I agree..." I trailed off, trying to think this all through.

We decided to take the risk and went up to our room, hoping that we weren't interrupting anything. We were pleasantly surprised. They were watching Spongebob. together on the couch. The TV sucked. Spongebob kept changing colors from pink to blue. And he's supposed to be _yellow_.

"Oh, hello there!" Jessica shouted with a huge smile on her face. I raised my eyebrow. "What? I'm in a good mood..." she mumbled. Matt just gave us a goofy grin. Oh those two...

"Well, you guys, we got new deets," Christine announced. We all sat around the coffee table and had a flock meeting.

"So, we did some research downstairs on the computer and found out that there's more bird kids out there," I explained. They both looked pretty surprised.

We all sat deep in thought for a minute.

Finally, Matt took a deep breath. "I think I have an idea."

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**Well then... What could possibly be Matt's idea? Lol. Such a cliffhanger. I feel so cool.**


	5. Chapter 5: Matt's Mission

**A/N: Such an awkward short chapter... **

**Disclaimer: Although we do own Matt, Noah, Christine, Abby, and me (of course), we do not own Maximum Ride. But it'd be pretty cool if we did.**

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Chapter Five: Matt's Mission

Jessica POV

"A plan, huh?" Christine asked.

"Well, spill it," I added after her. Matt smirked at me, probably trying to decide whether or not he should annoy me and stay silent. He apparently decided not to risk it and just tell us. Smart boy.

"I think we should look for these other flocks. We could split up, three of us looking for one flock, the other two looking for the other," he suggested. We all sat in silence as we contemplated the idea. Well, I thought about for about five seconds before my mind started to wander.

"Who would look for who?" Abby asked, snapping me back to reality.

"We could pull straws," I said, trying to make it fair. Fact is, _none_ of us liked the idea of being separated from Matt. That's kinda why he's leader. Well, it's also because he's had wings for the longest time and he's the oldest, but that's beyond the point. I'm not going to claim him just because we _kissed._ Really. I'm not that kind of person. In fact, while I have no bad feelings towards him and the kiss, I kinda wanted to avoid him at the moment. It was just _so _embarrassing...

"I second that," Noah told us. So it was decided, because what Noah wants, he gets. That spoiled, little know-it-all. But we love him anyway. He's just so... lovable.

We ended up using toothpicks. I marked the bottom of two and left the other three blank. Then I held them so you couldn't see which was which. Matt declared that the blank team looked for Fang and the marked looked for the other flock. Then we drew decided the teams.

Matt – blank.

Christine – blank.

Abby – marked.

Noah – blank.

Which meant I was marked with Abby. I grinned.

"Cool," I laughed. "Finally, civilization other than you people!" Of course, that offended them at first before they got over and laughed.

"So..." Christine grinned evilly. "Why don't we leave you two lovebirds to say your goodbyes..."

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one blushing.

Well, this wasn't awkward in the least.

"Um..." I mumbled. Matt replied with a brilliant response:

"Uh..."

"Bye?" I said it as a question.

"I'll miss you..." he told me with a blush.

"Me too." Stupid blush wouldn't go away.

After much more awkwardness, the teams split up.

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**Oh dear... This couple is going to be a bit... untraditional. Ha ha. And how sad! They're being separated! DX**


	6. Chapter 6: Journey to Colorado

**A/N: Hey hey hey. Tis Jessica! Turns out I'm allowed to use the crappy old computer when I'm grounded from my laptop. My dad is so nice! Also, Abby impersonated me in the last two authors notes because I kinda don't live at her house. I'm not a creeper. Honest.**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, we do not own Maximum Ride. We're just a couple of fangirls who are a tad obsessed.

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Chapter Six: Journey to Colorado

Abby POV

I began to count the money Matt gave us. Twenty... Forty... Sixty... Eighty... One hundred? Wow. He had a _lot_ of moola. Or maybe he just gave us a ton because of Jessica. But either way, it was still a lot of money.

"So, where were we going again?" Jessica asked.

"I think Noah said Colorado. But I don't really wanna go there and not have this hundred spent on something..." I trailed off, becoming a little greedy.

Jessica flashed an evil smile. "Shopping trip?"

I raised my eyebrow. "You actually want to go shopping?" She nodded, and I walked up to her, grabbed her shoulders, and started shaking. "Who are you and what have you done with Jessica?"

She laughed and pushed me away. "No, I just want to buy some good food, new clothes, and be a part of society. I don't know what life was like when I was normal," she explained, looking a little sad.

I laughed. "You were never normal. Trust me. If you didn't have wings now, you would still be crazy."

She stuck her tongue out at me.

"So, we should probably go to Chicago if we want to get some shopping done..." I suggested, wiggling my eyebrows. She agreed, so we decided to get going.

"You can take off on your own, right?" I asked Jessica. She nodded, determined.

She jumped off, a little clumsily, but after falling a couple of feet, was able to keep steady.

Finally, it was my turn. I smelled the dry air of California. After looking around for incoming traffic (a.k.a. birds, toy airplanes, etc.) I jumped off, and at the last minute, unfurled my wings. _Aah, much better._ I'd been cooped up for a good week, so to be flying again felt amazing. The sun kissed my wings, making the tan feathers look orange, and the white feathers sparkled.

I flapped as hard as I could until I reached Jessica's level, and we took off.

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We took longer than I would have hoped, but we finally made it to Chicago. The lights twinkled in the night sky, beckoning us to come down and meet everyone. It was mesmerizing.

Jessica let out a sigh of relief as we landed in a park. After checking it out, and seeing that there weren't any people around, we settled in a tree. Yes, you heard me right. A _tree_. Unfortunately, if you want to get a decent hotel under fifty dollars in Chicago, you're not going to find anything. Unless, of course, you don't mind thinking of the chances of you getting murdered there. So as a bird kid on a tight budget, the best option would be to sleep in a tree.

We picked a branch and called it a night.

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The next morning, Jessica and I went CRAZY. We bought shirts, jeans, and an old, bulky iPod with some random music on it at a secondhand shop. Later, we got our hair done. I got myself some choppy bangs with pink streaks in it, and Jessica got an even choppier cut with orange streaks in it. Now, of course, it would have cost over a hundred dollars, but I was able to project some thoughts of us being poor and sad orphans into the stylist's mind. Ok, I know. A little evil of me, but we desperately needed our hair washed. Might as well get a discounted cut while you're at it.

After we got all of that done, we still had twenty dollars to spare.

"Duh! We forgot to get food!" Jessica exclaimed while we were wandering. I did a face palm. "Do you know any good restaurants?" she asked me.

I shook my head. "I've only been to Chicago a few times. How about I look in that direction-" I pointed with my right hand out to who knows where, "and you go the opposite direction?"

Jessica looked a little apprehensive. "What if we get lost?"

"We have wings. Remember? Just circle around and I'll try to meet you," I explained. She nodded, looking a little braver. We split up.

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I was the one who was carrying the iPod, so I figured I'd listen to it while I looked around. After a desperate search of good music, I ended up settling on Rihanna. But it wasn't like any hits. Just really old stuff. But I danced to it anyways. Being deprived of music for almost a year really sucks.

Of course, I wasn't paying attention, so I walked into some kid. But in my defense - he _was_ wearing grey, and he pretty much blended in with the buildings. But I was polite anyways.

"Oh sorry, I didn't see you," I said.

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**Oh my oh my! IGGY! *drools***


	7. Chapter 7: We Meet the Flock

**A/N: This story was also posted on my account (Quicquidlibet) as "The Pick-Up Line". We didn't steal it, ok? I own the account! Blah.**

**And now give it up for the REAL Jessica! WOO! Thank you Abby for impersonating me during my flightlessness. No sarcasm intended. I actually look forward to seeing what you say as me. You know me so well, I sometimes can't remember if I said it or not! Isn't that a great way to go crazy?**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride is not ours. I think we should create a new series called Minimum Ride...

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Chapter Seven: We Meet the Flock

Omniscient POV

Iggy was lost. Now, usually, the blind boy was with someone else, but then again, Gazzy didn't usually ditch him with out warning.

Well, anyway, most people know that when you're lost, you stay where you are and you'll be found. Iggy was not most people.

He was wandering blindly – both literally and figuratively – and getting more lost with each step. He occasionally walked into people and random objects but he wasn't fazed.

But then he saw something that made him stop in his tracks.

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Abby was walking around the city, looking for a restaurant. She hummed along to her iPod, oblivious to the world. Then she crashed into someone.

"Oh sorry, I didn't see you," she said to the boy. He didn't respond. She couldn't help it; she had to laugh.

His face resembled that of a startled deer, like it was the shock of his life just to bump into her.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Abby laughed.

"You could say that," the boy responded shakily, the initial shock not fading. Now Abby was getting concerned.

"What's wrong? You look seriously freaked out," she asked. He sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair.

"Okay, this is going to sound a lot like a pick-up line, but I'm actually blind. Can't see a thing. But now I can. Weird," he replied, his eyes flickering around, taking in his surroundings almost hungrily.

"It'd be a pick-up line if you said it was because of me and looked only at me," Abby replied, enticing a laugh out of the boy.

"Well I'm sorry. I don't mean to ignore a pretty girl's looks," he smirked at her blush, resting his eyes on her. "I just want to enjoy everything I see."

"I'm starting to think this _is_ a pick-up line," she replied, her blush refusing to budge.

"It's not. I swear," he chuckled. "I'm Iggy, by the way. You don't have to introduce yourself if you think I'm hitting on you."

"I'm Abby," she laughed. "So what brings you to Chicago?"

"My little sisters wanted to go shopping in the Windy City," Iggy rolled his eyes. "Me and my brother and his friend said no, but our older sister overruled us. Democratic family, my toe," he snorted.

"Toe?" his phrase had Abby puzzled.

"I don't swear," was his reply.

"Same here," Abby grinned, and then looked to the sky. Jessica was circling around. "Crap! I have to go! I just remembered I have to meet my friend Jessica!" she exclaimed. "Bye Iggy! Maybe I'll see you around!"

Unfortunately, because she ran off, she didn't hear Iggy's sad remark.

"Oh. It's dark again," he sighed. "Maybe she _was_ the reason."

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Iggy had eventually been found by an irate Max. Now the six bird-kids and talking dog sat in a random cafe. Total was disguised as a seeing-eye dog in order to be allowed in, once again.

"What's the matter, Iggy?" Dylan asked. Iggy sat dejectedly, his blank stare seemingly fixed on his now empty plate.

"I met a girl today, when I was lost," the blind bird-kid mumbled quietly. Yet, apparently, he had not been quiet enough, because the others still heard him.

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"Iggy's got a crush!" Abby jumped as a voice exclaimed from a table about ten feet away. Looking up, she saw a blushing Iggy yell at a young blonde boy.

"Shut up! It's not like that!" he yelled. "I could see around her. I don't know why. Then she left and I was blind again."

It was then that Abby noticed the seeing-eye dog at his feet. "So he really was blind," she murmured.

"What?" Jessica, asked.

"Nothing," Abby responded. Then she made a snap decision and got up.

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Iggy grinned when his sight once again flickered back to life. He looked up as she sat down across from him.

"Hey Abby," he smiled and then laughed at the looks on the flock's faces.

"Hey. So, care to introduce me?" she laughed with him.

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**Oooooooh IGGY! Ok. Done freaking out.**


	8. Chapter 8: Tall, Albino, and Part Bird

**A/N: JESSICA IS IN DA HOUSE! And no I did not somehow just make myself lose the game for no reason...**

**OH! I almost forgot! Since 8 is my favorite number and 9 is Abby's , so we decided that we'd write the chapters for our favorite numbers and then go back to me writing odds and Abby writing evens. Cheers for screwing up the order!**

**WE DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE OR THE CHICAGO BEARS. IF YOU EVER SAY WE DO, I WILL FEED YOU TO THE RABID TREES. THOSE MERCILESS, TERRIFYING, RABID TREES...**

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**Chapter Eight: Tall, Albino, and Part Bird

Max POV

Ok, so if you had a blind brother who could suddenly now see because of some random girl, what would you do? Would you immediately think she was sent by whitecoats? No, of course you wouldn't, because _you_ wouldn't be in that situation! But _I _would.

Anyway, after Abby sat down with us, her friend slid into the booth next to us.

"Oi! You little twerp!" she exclaimed indignantly in a fake-sounding british accent. "Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?" she teased Abby, dropping the accent. Almost immediately both Iggy and Abby blushed. Of course, Gazzy decided that was absolutely _hilarious_ and started snickering. Loudly.

"Ga- Zephyr! Shut it!" I scolded, belatedly remembering to use the fake names in front of strangers. Iggy snorted, earning himself a glare.

"His name isn't Zephyr," he told Abby. "His name is the Gasman, Gazzy for short. That's Max, she likes to ruin our fun and doesn't trust _anyone_," he continued. I kicked his leg. "That little blonde girl is Angel, and the girl next to her is Nudge. The super model dude is Dylan and this is Total," he finished the introductions.

"Well, you already know I'm Abby and this is Jessica," she replied. Abby was tall, with light blonde hair with pink streaks and blue eyes. Jessica was a whole lot shorter than Abby, with orange and brown hair and blue eyes.

She shifted in her seat, accidently brushing her arm against Dylan's. She froze.

* * *

Jessica POV

Abby froze. Not good. She must have read that Dylan guy's mind. She _did_ touch his skin, after all.

_Jessica. This is the flock! The one we were looking for! _She projected the thought into my mind. Creepy much?

I shifted my leg so our ankles were touching so she could hear me.

_You sure? Aww look at that, you and Iggy have so much in common! You're both tall, albino and part bird! _I told her teasingly.

"Stop calling me albino!" she exclaimed out loud. Oops.

"What?" Max asked. Oh crap, now she's even _more _untrusting.

"Don't worry Max," the little girl, I think Angel was her name, assured the older girl. "They're like us. They were speaking to each other in their minds."

"Well fancy that," I said in a fake southern accent. "We got ourselves another mind reader on our hands."

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**Oh, and just so you know, we're pretty much ignoring the ending of Angel (book 7) because Jessica kinda forgot about it, and to be honest, we're actually starting to like her ever since she decided to stop being evil. :)**


	9. Chapter 9: Flashback

**This is Abby. Is it me, or is FanFiction being weird? It wouldn't let me upload any files. Oh well. At least I got this to you. So sorry that I didn't upload it sooner. I had a temporary writers block. But I'M BACK BABY! :D**

**Disclaimer: Jeb is a jerk. If we owned Maximum Ride, he wouldn't have been so mean and stupid. So we obviously do not own Maximum Ride.

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Chapter Nine: Flashback

Abby POV

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, staring at Angel. "You can read minds?"

She nodded, and smiled. "So you come from the School too?"

"Yeah..." I trailed off, still amazed. This time, everyone in the Flock was staring at _us_. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I _really_ don't like being put on the spot.

"Wait..." Dylan, "The Supermodel Dude", said. "You have-" he looked around, making sure nobody was listening, "_wings?_"

"Yep. And Abby can read minds and project her thoughts into them, and I can create a purple forcefield," Jessica announced. They all gave us weird looks. Well, all except for Max.

"Do you know Jeb Batchelder?" she asked.

I thought a little bit. I didn't really bother to develop relationships with the scientists. They weren't too friendly, with the constant injections and tests and all. But after a quick search in my mind, I remembered.

"Oh, I definitely know him. He kidnapped me," I spat back.

Maybe I should take this time to tell you what happened. I was a normal, high school student. Then, one day, when I was at my locker, getting my Geometry and Biology binders, this group of people in white, lab coats came and started talking to me. How they got in my school is a mystery to me.

"Abigail?" one of them asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't call me Abigail. It's Abby." Ok, a little mean, but I try to avoid stranger danger. A common teenager's response is sarcasm.

"My mistake." He held out his hand, expecting me to shake it. "I'm Jeb Batchelder."

I looked at his hand, then back to his face. "Cool." I walked past him, bumping into his shoulder. But then, one of his men grabbed me and put his hand on my mouth so I couldn't scream. Another one came to my back and held back my arms.

Jeb gave me a calm, nonchalant look. "We at the Institute of Higher Living have selected you to become a part of our program."

I rolled my eyes again, completely annoyed and a little frightened. I mean, I'm sure any normal person would have the same reaction if they were being held against their will to participate in some random program that they'd never heard of. Maybe it's just me.

The bell rang. Now I was late for class. I was going to be marked truant, and I was going to miss that big test in Spanish, and- Oh, wait. I was being kidnapped. That should be my number one concern.

Jeb did some elaborate hand motion to his henchmen and they picked me up like I was a piece of paper. They were really, _really _strong. They carried me out of my high school, unseen and unheard. Now, let me reiterate – I have absolutely no idea how they were able to do that. After we got outside, they stuffed me in a van. There, I found my best friend, Christine. There was also a teenaged guy with a little kid at his hip. Of course, this was Matt and Noah, but I didn't know it at the time. Remember? This is a flashback.

They drove us on a three day long trip. It sucked. Although the food wasn't too bad. But when we got to California, they shot us with tranquilizers. Not fun. We didn't wake up for another two days. The scientists performed an extensive operation on us that altered our DNA and gave us wings. We didn't feel the pain until a full month after because of the strong pain killers, but when we felt it, it was horrible. Our whole bodies were in pain because of the changed DNA. Our bones were altered, we got air sacs, and we lost a ton of weight. (That part I liked. Word to the wise – getting this procedure done is very wonderful for significant weight loss.)

Our new home was a dog crate. We were confined to it for some of the days and all nights. We were also experimented on daily. They would do stuff like regeneration, stress tests, and brain waves. I have to say – regeneration was my least favorite. They would constantly inject us with stuff and then, after a couple of months, they started doing freaky stuff like chopping our fingers off. Now, in a life-or-death situation, I can see how that would come in handy. But when they would do it every day for the sake of testing it, that got on my nerves. I'm sorry, but I don't like when others mutilate my body by separating my to from my body.

After six months of torture, we finally were flying. It took a while to get used to it, but regardless, we got it. Later on, Jessica joined the flock, and we were like a family.

Finally, we decided to escape. I'm pretty sure we've caught up to my previous flashback (Chapter Two for those who are just joining us.)

Angel was staring at me as I finished reminiscing. I had a feeling that she listened to it all...

* * *

**Hey, I wanna strike up some conversation. Anyone who read Book 7 - Do you trust Dr. Martinez at all? I mean, I am seriously confuzzled. And do you think Angel is gonna get brainwashed? And eventually stab Max in the back again?**


	10. Chapter 10: How To Dine And Dash

**A/N: (It be Abby) I FINALLY got to writing chapter 10. YAY! LOL. There's a lot more conversation really in this chapter, but whatever. Oh, and just so you know, we're ignoring some of the stuff from book 7 cos Jessica doesn't remember it, but I own it, and I do remember it, so yeah. We're ignoring the Angel thing at the end because we kinda wanted to keep her in the story... But everything with Dr. Martinez, Jeb, Dr. G-H, and Ella is what we're keeping. But Ella might not be in this story too much... Heh heh. *Evil smile* DOWN WITH EGGY! Ok I'm done.**

**Disclaimer: We OBVIOUSLY do not own Maximum Ride. James Patterson is one person, not two...**

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Chapter Ten: How To Dine And Dash

Abby POV

I blinked quickly, and then listened in on the conversation Jessica was having with Gazzy about who could burp the most. It all resulted in a burping contest. Jessica won.

"Well, I just didn't have enough pop is all..." Gazzy trailed off, embarrassed about losing to a girl. Max gave him a look, and then muttered something about all males being sexist.

Angel continued to stare at me, and then she projected a thought into my head. _You were kidnapped by Jeb?_

_Well, his henchmen really did all the work. But he planned it all._

She gave me a sympathetic look. _I'm sorry. Jeb is a backstabbing jerk._

I looked at her curiously. _What did he ever do to you?_

She sighed. _He saved us from the School, left us, and then ended up bringing us back a couple of times, and he's been working with the School ever since. _

I closed my eyes, annoyed. What an idiot. I rested my head on my arms, trying to calm down.

Iggy lowered his head and looked at me. "Hi."

I smiled. "Hello there."

He laid his head down next to mine. "What's up?"

I sighed. "I'm just remembering the stupid School, the stupid Whitecoats, and stupid Jeb."

He laughed. "You sound like Max."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Whatever. So who's paying for lunch?"

Iggy just laughed. Angel sent out a thought to everyone. _Ok guys, get ready to make an escape._

What? I tapped Iggy's arm. "We're dining and dashing?" I hissed in his ear. He grinned and nodded. Quickly, I shoved my foot to Jessica's so our ankles could touch. _We're dining and dashing!_

_You guys are so cute!_ Jessica thought back, smiling.

I rolled my eyes. _Whatever! You're not listening! We're dining and DASHING._

_You guys really are cute together!_ Angel thought to me.

I pounded my fists on the table. "Can everyone just stop saying that?"

Once again, everyone stared at me like I was crazy. "Geez, I really gotta work on staying in thought-conversations."

Everyone shrugged and began to stand up. My heart was pounding. I'm a good person, and I'd really prefer to follow the law like a normal citizen should. But apparently, rules weren't really important to this flock. Or Jessica for that matter.

"Guys..." I muttered.

Nudge grinned at me. "You ready?"

I let out my breath, and decided to just go along with it. I nodded reluctantly.

Max screamed out, "GO!" Nudge grabbed us newbies' hands and led us down the sidewalk, running. Someone yelled after us, but we had to keep going.

"Take off in three!" Max announced.

"Three!" Dylan yelled.

"Shut up Dylan! This is my job! Two!" Max retorted. I surpressed a laugh.

All of the flock shot out their wings, so we followed along.

"One!" she shouted. In order, we all jumped up and began flapping our wings as hard as we could. Jessica had a hard time gaining altitude, but she finally caught up to us.

I sighed, feeling guilty. "We are such horrible people."

Iggy flew next to me as close as he could so he could see around him. "You'll get used to it."

I shook my head, but decided not to fight against it.

"Wow... I can't believe I missed out on this for so long..." he said whistfully, looking around.

I looked at him sadly. "How long have you been blind?"

He frowned. "Almost my whole life. I can remember seeing, but vaguely..."

I nodded. "Did the Whitecoats make you blind?"

He simply nodded.

We flew for a couple of hours, and we finally survived the long trip full of complaining, courtesy of Jessica, to Colorado.

Once we got to their house, Gazzy sprinted to the door and opened it with the key. "I gotta peeeee!" I heard him whine. Nudge and Angel followed him, laughing. Max and Dylan walked in together, seeming to be in very deep discussion. Iggy, Jessica, and I walked in last.

"Welcome," Iggy announced while gesturing to the room, "to our home."

* * *

**I feel bad about dining and dashing... Even though I only wrote about it... but whatever. Thanks for the answer to my question! (I forget the username, but you know who you are... LOL sounds creepy.) I honestly never thought about Dr. Martinez being the Voice... But it makes total and complete sense. And now I've got a theory on that! I think that Jeb, Dr. Martinez, and Dr. G-H ALL do the Voice. That would explain why the Voice contradicts itself so much. I'm just saying. **

**OMG. I totally forgot about Total. (And I just realized how awesome that sentence was...) Well I'll leave that to Jessica. :) K bye.**


	11. Chapter 11: Birds On A Wire

**A/N: Hello! Jessica here! Since it's easier, from now on who ever writes the chapter gets to write both the header AND the footer, mainly because I have a habit of doing both on my own stories and its too complicated for us to keep editing the chapters just to add an authors note. So yeah.**

**Lately I've been obsessing over Codename: Kids Next Door more than I do with Maximum Ride, so don't be surprised if the vibe of the chapter screams KND instead of Maximum Ride. Or if I say "crud." Also, we have decided to do a contest! We're gonna put some quotes from other things in the next two chapters and who ever is the first to tell us where it's from gets to appear in chapter 13! Woohoo!**

**We don't own Maximum Ride. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we are not the people you can attack for the rights to the story. Go stalk someone else.**

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Chapter Eleven: Birds On A Wire

Jessica POV

"Alright, this is all fine and dandy," I began as me, Abby, and the flock sat around lazily, "but why do I feel like we're forgetting something?"

Everyone sat in silence as I tried to remember.

"We were supposed to call Matt!" Abby reminded me, she had just remembered. I jumped up, grabbed the phone from Abby (_Wipe that smirk off your face,_ I told her when our fingers brushed) and dialed, walking into a quieter room.

"Opinions are immunity from being told you're wrong. Paper, rock, and scissors they all have their pros and cons!" Matt sang as he picked up the phone. I laughed at that.

"Good to know," I giggled.

"What's shaking?" I could hear the smile in his voice.

"We found the flock," I reported with a grin.

"Alright! We met up with Fang. He said the old flock was led by some dude named Max, right?" Matt sounded a little uncertain, trying to remember what Fang had told him. I snickered. "What? What did I say?"

"Max is a girl," I told him. That got him to laugh as well.

"Oh, oops. My bad."

"It's okay. What are you doing?" I questioned.

"We're just chilling. Want to know what I'm gonna do when the food comes?" He said mischieviously.

"What?"

"I'll take a potato chip... and EAT IT!" he crowed happily. I, of course started cracking up.

"You are so weird," I told him matter-of-factly.

"Hey! Don't knock a classic quote!" he snapped jokingly.

We talked for a little while longer before I hung up.

As I headed back into the main room, I heard Abby and Iggy playing checkers.

"Face it, you've lost the game," she said to him, as he did in fact lose.

"Crud! I just lost!" I shouted loudly, causing everyone to stare at me. Abby of course just smiled at making me lose the game. Iggy laughed once he figured out what I was yelling about. I sighed and sat down next to them. "You're like two birds on a wire," I told them.

"Err.. don't you mean 'birds of a feather'?" Iggy gave me a confused look.

"It's Jessica. She's just weird like that," Abby stated and I grinned.

* * *

**Stupid and pointless, I know, but I just can't come up with anything. At least we got the important phone call over with.**

**Okay, so there are three quotes and a song lyric. The first person to get them correct gets to be in ****chapter 13. (If you only know one, you'll still be in it. Like if four different people each get one, they'll all be in it) If you get all four, we'll try to give you a major role. :)**

**Laterrrr...**


	12. Chapter 12: Awkward Situations

**A/N: Abby here. I like the new idea of us doing the header and footer for our chapters. Much easier. So get used to it. :) OH, and by the way, I kinda couldn't think of a quote to put in here... So I'm just leaving the quote thing to Jessica cos she's much better at it. **

**Now, this chapter mentions Ella a bit... If you can't tell, I don't like her. :) Mostly cos she's trying to STEAL MY MAN! LOL. I'm just a tad obsessed with Iggy. Whatever. Anyways, the reason why I'm already mentioning Igby so early is cos... Well, you'll just have to wait to find out. ;) It'll all be explained later... I just don't know how much later... **

**But yeah. Eggy is SOO not gonna happen. I'm sorry, Eggy fans, but there's just no way. Even if I didn't like Iggy, I'd still have a problem with them. First of all, they barely know each other. Second of all, they're not OFFICIALLY going out. Thirdly, didn't Ella like some dude at her school? She likes EVERY guy. Lastly, Ella doesn't have wings. Iggy does. It just doesn't really work cos that'd mean that Ella is 2% going out with a BIRD. Just a little odd to me. But if JP makes them go out in the last book, I'm thinking of storming his house... It'll probably be a one-person-protest, but I'll do it. I am THAT obsessed. **

**Anywhoozles, I'm done ranting about why Iggy loves me. :) I hope you enjoyed. **

**Disclaimer: If you skipped the above rant, it's basically evidence of why we don't own Maximum Ride. But I do own an iPhone, an epic piano, and a copy of the play "Romeo and Juliet" for school.**

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Chapter Twelve: Awkward Situations

Abby POV

"Go fish," Iggy responded, smiling. I groaned and dug out yet _another_ card.

I turned to the TV. We were watching What Not To Wear with Nudge, Angel, Max, and Dylan. Gazzy and Jessica couldn't stand it, so Gazzy decided to teach Jessica how to make a stink bomb. We could smell the results, and it seemed like Jessica was learning pretty fast.

"Eww! I can't believe she would pair those two patterns!" Nudge exclaimed. I nodded in agreement. Max just sighed in frustration, and got up to go fly outside. Dylan followed her.

Iggy asked me for another card. I looked up from my cards, raising an eyebrow. "I just asked you for that card."

He grinned evilly.

"Have you been lying this whole time?" I demanded, grabbing his cards out of his hand. He nodded. "Idiot!" I shouted, and began to run after him. We chased each other all around the house until he locked the door in his bedroom.

"Whatever," I muttered and walked down the stairs, rejoining Angel and Nudge.

They smiled at me, wiggling their eyebrows. "What?" I questioned.

Angel smiled. "He likes you."

I rolled my eyes. "We just met, I doubt he likes me."

Nudge looked at Angel. "Yeah, I think so too. Besides, he likes Ella."

"Who's Ella?" I asked.

"Ella is Max's half-sister. She's normal, but she recently became completely insane, brainwashed Iggy, and then when we treated her, she left us and said that she was meant to have wings. We don't know where she is," Nudge answered.

"Wow," I added, nodding my head and looking off into space.

Angel shook her head. "First of all, I can _read minds_, and Iggy's was all over Abby. Second, he doesn't really like Ella."

"What?" Nudge yelled. "Are you sure about that one?"

Angel nodded. "When Iggy became un-brainwashed, he didn't think of her in that way. I think they were both under that spell, and didn't really like each other. But Ella still has a crush on him. He cares about her in the sister way."

I had no idea what she was talking about, but I played along. I guess I missed out on the Flock's previous adventures.

"Well then, Abby, your problems are solved," Nudge stated happily.

I shook my head. "Trust me. If I like him, you'll be able to tell. Especially you, Angel." She smiled sheepishly. "But since I've only known him for a couple of hours, there's no reason for me to like him. So please don't keep suggesting that we be together."

Nudge and Angel nodded in understanding.

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Iggy POV

"Whatever," Abby muttered, and I heard her footsteps walk away. I turned away from the door. _Great, now I can't see again._

"Hey," I breathed. I was assuming that Gazzy and Jessica were in there because of the horrible smell.

"Hello there," Gazzy replied. Then, Jessica and him snickered.

"What?" I asked stupidly.

"C'mon. You know what we're talking about," Jessica said softly.

I decided to act smart for a minute. "Well, you actually really aren't talking, you're just giggling. So how could I know what you're talking about?"

Jessica glared at me. I could tell by her voice. "Fine. You know what we _mean_."

I shook my head. "I don't."

Gazzy sighed in frustration. "You have a crush on Abby."

My eyes widened. "No!"

Jessica stood up and put her hand on my shoulder. "You don't have to lie. You can tell us anything."

I took her hand off. "I'm telling you, I don't like her in that way. Didn't we just meet?"

Gazzy came over this time. "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "No because I haven't ever seen someone until now. So how could I know?"

Jessica got very angry. "Stop being so thick!"

This time, I got mad. "I'm not being thick! I don't like her! Can't you accept that?"

Everything was silent. Finally, Gazzy broke the silence. "Ok. So do you like Ella?"

I grabbed my hair with my hands. "I don't really know. Ever since she went crazy, I've been on the fence about it. Besides, she's kinda clingy."

Gazzy muttered something in agreement. "What are you going to do when we save her?"

I shrugged. "We'll see."

Jessica sighed, no doubt confused and annoyed. "Well, do you wanna help us build more stink bombs? We've been kinda planning on ambushing Dylan..."

I chuckled. "Absolutely."

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**If this was boring, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't really know what to write about, but I'ma gonna talk to Jessica about what's going to happen cos I have a couple of ideas, but we gotta discuss it. Oh, and writing in Iggy's POV is HARD! I don't think I'll write in it unless I'm around just cos it's hard to write in a blind person's POV. And the reason why he can see me... You'll just have to wait. ;)**


	13. Chapter 13: Ultimate Caution Of Flying

**A/N: Heyyyy... Jessica here! Thanks to MyrtleFalls for reviewing. Congrats on guessing correctly!**

**-is side tracked by Codename: Kids Next Door on the TV-**

**Abby's spending the week at my house so we might be a little faster with the updating. Maybe. Probably not.**

"**Just... just... let the little ugly man go." Oh Lizzie...**

**Haha sorry, I'm a little distracted. JADA WE MISS YOU!**

**Babies come from Philadelphia.**

**To be honest, I'd love to own all the stories I write about, but alas, tis **_**FAN**_**fiction. So we **_**obviously**_** don't own.**

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Chapter Thirteen: Ultimate Caution Of Flying

Jessica POV

You haven't met annoying if you haven't met me. Seriously.

But after about an hour of me bothering them, Abby still hadn't cracked.

"Come _on_." Poke. "_Please?"_ Poke. "Abby!" Poke. "Just _one _phone call." Poke. "Pretty pretty please?" Poke. Poke. Poke. "_Iggy!_ Can't you convince her?" Poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-poke-

"No." Thwack. "_OW."_

"That's for not helping me."

"Why should I help _you?"_ Thwack. "Stop that!"

"Err... Do I want to know?"

"Jessica's abusing me!"

"I wouldn't _have_ to if you'd just convince Abby to let me call Matt!"

"Why would she listen to _me?_"

"Because you love each other, _duh._"

"WE AREN'T IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER!"

"Yeah, whatever. Can I call Matt?"

And this continued for a _long_ time.

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So now we were high in the air, flying to meet up with Matt and Fang.

According to the last update with the others (after about three hours of my poking she had groaned and convinced Max to go meet up with them to get me to shut up) we would meet them at the Double Tree Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. I couldn't wait, it _had_ been a week away from them after all. Max was a little reluctant to see Fang, but she didn't want to risk having me shift all of my attention to annoying _her_ and gave in.

It turns out Fang had gathered a flock of his own. They were coming too.

Well, anyway, we were flying. In the rain. Oh the joy.

Someone should have checked the weather.

_Sorry, I got distracted. Big Time Rush was on_, Angel told me in my head.

_It's okay. Gazzy was in need of a shower anyway,_ I sent back, chuckling a little. She giggled at that.

Now, in my defense, flying in the rain _really_ screws up your field of vision. So it's not like I could _see_ the girl who flew into me.

* * *

**Okay, so I'm sorry for the ADD header.**

**Yup, the girl I crashed into was you, MyrtleFalls. :)**

**Also, if any one is interested, I'm writing a KND and Maximum Ride crossover. I'll put in ****a preview below:**

**Present Day, Delightful Manor, POV: Iggy Ride**

My mind was going a mile a minute, give or take a few seconds.

Alright, situation:

I was trapped in the Delightful Dweebs' basement.

Five KND operatives were here with me.

Four "TND" operatives were here as well.

I had no idea what the TND was.

They probably won't tell me anyways.

I recognize the TND operatives.

No one knows who I am.

I'm no longer blind.

The lights just went out.

Those idiots.

**If you like it, you'll have to read more. :)**


	14. Chapter 14: We Plan To Meet Up

**A/N: It is your best friend, Abby! Hello! Ready for another rant? LOL. This one is pro-Fax. **

**DYLAN IS AN IDIOT! Ok. Just had to put it out there. But Dax can never happen. Or Mylan. However you want to put it. **

**Ok - this is why Fax has to happen. First of all, they know each other better. Plus, Fang stated in his letter that Max was his first and only love. He is not allowed to like Maya. And Max is not allowed to like Dylan. They love each other! Also, a bunch of angry fan-girls are going to storm JP's house. Just for the record, I am TOTALLY willing to join any protest. They are MEANT TO BE. The Voice even supports them in the first 5 books! Until Dylan shows up. This also proves my Voice theory, but I can get into that later. Perhaps I should write a paper about it... But I'm not good at reasoning when it involves my emotions. Cos how do you back that up? It's your emotions!**

**Anywho, I just went COMPLETELY off subject. But that's just my thought processes. I spend a total of two seconds, maximum of a minute, on every topic. I hope you enjoyed my... Discussion? I don't really know what that was. But it was a lame rant. Woohoo!**

**So anyways, this chapter sucked. I kinda feel like it was a filler-inner cos Jessica has some ideas that I'd prefer for her to start writing them. I'd mess it up and get confused. But we have plans now! Oh, and I love Matt in this chapter. Messica was just meant to be!**

**Disclaimer: WE DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE, OK?**

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Chapter Fourteen: We Plan To Meet Up

Christine POV

"Please, Fang!" Matt shouted, and then began poking Fang. "Can we meet them up?" Poke. Poke. "Pleeeease?" Poke. Poke. "If you say yes, I'll stop singing Disney songs!" Pokepokepokepoke.

Fang growled. "Fine. We can meet up. Just don't expect to stay long."

Matt hopped off the bed and got back to the phone. "Yeah, we're coming. I can't wait to see you. Later skater."

"What?" I heard Jessica exclaim on the other end. Matt hung up. Then, he did a High School Musical pose off of the hotel bed.

"Dude, are you gay or something?" Ratchet asked Matt.

"No!" he yelled. "I was just talking to my girlfriend!"

I rolled my eyes. "She's not your girlfriend."

"How would _you_ know that?" he retorted.

"You guys _kissed_."

Matt stuck his tongue out at me.

We'd been hanging out with Fang's flock. There were these other non-bird kid people, like Ratchet, Star, Kate, and Holden. Then, there was Fang, of course, and Maya, who was Max's clone. Also, Max was apparently a girl. Definitely something I didn't see coming. Kate, Maya, and I had gotten along. Noah kept to himself mostly, but he connected with Holden and Fang the best. Matt and Ratchet were best buds, and they'd just met.

"Great, I have to see Max again?" Maya grumbled.

"What happened last time?" I asked, curious about this rivalry. Ok, I'll admit. I love hearing about drama.

"Well, she and I kinda fought over Fang..." she began.

"And they both like him, by the way," Kate added. Well, that certainly explained about ten more questions.

"And she was acting like a total bi-" Maya grunted.

"Ok! That's good enough," Kate interrupted. "Basically, they butted heads because of something that happened a couple of months ago."

"It was _more_ than something. Her and I had to fight to the death. And she almost killed me, but then she had to act like a saint, and she made a big speech about how we shouldn't kill each other. I was only made as 'updated software.'" Maya folded her arms and snarled in disgust.

"But that wasn't her fault," Kate told her softly. I immediately established her as a peacemaker.

"But she's a sarcastic, self-centered moron who had to act like snot towards me just because Fang decided to treat me like an individual," she whispered, holding back tears.

"If I may interrupt..." I started. Kate gave me a sight nod to give me permission to enter the conversation. "I don't really know Max, but it doesn't sound like she hates you, she's just a little protective of Fang." No one spoke, so I assumed that I could continue. "I also don't think that it's fair to get mad at her because of what the scientists did. She may not be acting very mature about it. The best way to deal with her is to try to be nice to her."

"What?" Maya exclaimed.

Kate stopped her before she could say more. "I think Christine's right. If you're not fighting back, then why should she fight you? Plus, it makes _her_ look like the bad guy."

Maya thought about it, and then gave a smile to both of us. "Thanks for the help."

She gave us hugs, and I decided to go walk around and check on everyone. Star and Noah were having a staring contest for about an hour straight now. Matt and Ratchet were wrestling on the floor, and Ratchet seemed to keep winning. Holden and Fang were watching TV, bored out of their minds.

This flock was _so_ weird. Not to say that ours alone was weird, we had the King of Weird with us, a.k.a. Matt, but if you added up all of the weirdoes in Fang's flock, it basically could equal the same amount of weirdness Matt had. I'm sorry if that logic confuses you.

Finally, Fang stood up and rubbed his hands together. "Ok Flock, before we leave, I think we should get some chow."

Everyone stood up in agreement.

After we feasted at Wendy's, we took off. (If you're wondering how Fang got the money, don't worry – we are too. He wouldn't tell us.) Star ran, Ratchet, Holden, and Kate went in Ratchet's car, and the rest of us winged-folks took the traditional way of flying. Star beat us, then the hybrids came second, and finally the people on wheels came in last.

After waiting an hour, we all began getting very frustrated.

"Where are they?" Fang growled.

* * *

**Since I rambled a lot in the header, I don't really have anything to talk about. Oh, but I just wanted to say that I'm very proud of Maya breaking down some walls! OH I have something to write about! **

**What are the fisherman's favorite kind of movies? **

**ROW-MANCE! AHAHAHAHAHA! Ha. Not really that funny. **

**"I spy with my little eye... a tree." **

**"...Um, you don't say what you spy... You describe it." **


	15. Chapter 15: Pyrocifer, Frost, and Race

**A/N: I'm writing this chapter using only my favorite quote of all time:**

"**Wing it and have a plan."**

**It's a complete oxymoron, but it works because I know EXACTLY what I wanna write, but I don't know HOW I'm gonna write it. Enjoy.**

**The world would go KAPUT if a fan owned Maximum Ride. Let's prevent that from happening, shall we?**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Pyrocifer, Frost, and Race

Jessica POV

It was times like this that I really hated amnesia.

"Pyrocifer," he said.

"Nope."

"Pyro?" he tried.

"Nada."

"Fire?" he said it more like a statement than a question.

"No."

"Lucifer?" The vampire, right?

"Nuh uh."

"Commander?" Okay... Kinda unrelated.

"Course not."

"Little monkey brother?" That's just weird.

"Not ringing any bells."

"Seriously? _Nothing? _Nothing at _all?_" Race exclaimed.

"Pretty much."

The two looked at me in exasperation. Not my fault they didn't believe me when I explicitly told them 'I have no memories at all. If I knew you, I am not gonna remember you.'

Now you're probably wondering what the crud is going on. Let me back up a bit.

* * *

Let me tell ya, crashing into someone at about a hundred miles per hour in the freaking _sky_ is not pleasant. Not in the slightest.

"Ow..." I moaned. "That _hurt..."_

"Sorry," the girl (holy crap, her hair is _bright_ red) groaned, also in pain.

"Let's land!" Max shouted, guiding us all down to an empty park

"Once again, I'm sorry. I couldn't exactly see in the rain," the mystery girl apologized again.

"It's okay. It's the rain's fault," I told her, popping my should back into place (it was dislocated in the crash) and stretching. Her hazel eyes went wide when she saw me.

"Frost? You're _alive?_" She gasped. What?

* * *

Max is an idiot. She had decided against the opinions of everyone else – _including _the girl – to go rescue the guy that she told us about.

Mystery Girl (which is what I had dubbed her for the time being) had told us many things.

For one, her name wasn't Mystery Girl. Her name _was_ Dakota, but she preferred to go by Race.

Second, she was from the School. She just escaped a year ago, actually.

Third, her friend was still trapped. He had given himself up to let her get away.

Fourth, she knew me. Apparently, my name is Frost.

And Max had decided to go rescue Race's friend (who I apparently knew) and get my memories back.

Detour much?

So now, me, Race, Abby, and Nudge were in a cage as bait. Who's bright idea was that? Max, of course.

On the bright side, we did find Race's friend.

And that's where we were back in the beginning of the chapter, so we've come full circle.

* * *

"Maybe you'll remember when you hear his name," Race said to me. I shrugged.

"Go ahead."

"Pyrocifer," he told me. 'Pyrocifer' was about my height, with black hair and brown eyes and skin.

"Nope."

"Pyro?" he tried.

"Nada."

"Fire?" he said it more like a statement than a question.

"No."

"Lucifer?" The vampire, right?

"Nuh uh."

"Commander?" Okay... Kinda unrelated.

"Course not."

"Little monkey brother?" That's just weird.

"Not ringing any bells."

"Seriously? _Nothing? _Nothing at _all?_" Race exclaimed.

"Pretty much."

"Stop being difficult!" Pyrocifer – Pyro for short – almost yelled in annoyance. I rolled my eyes.

"Why don't you get it through you're thick head that _I don't remember you?_" I retorted.

Cue loud explosions.

* * *

Sometime later, we had the white coats cornered. Max was threatening that she would hurt them a lot if they didn't give my memories back.

Note this: I don't really care either way if I remember.

Just before Max was about to follow through on her threat, another white coat came in.

"_Jeb_," Abby sneered. Guess she didn't like him or something.

"Abby," he said in acknowledgment. "Now Max. There's no need to go threatening people. I can give her memories back."

_Great._ Just what I've _always_ wanted.

* * *

Alright, I won't bore you with the details of what Jeb did (hooked me up to a computer. _Real_ exciting) and I'll just go straight into Flashback Mode.

I was born fourteen years ago in the School without wings. I had a body made of ice (hence the name Frost) that allowed me to control water (I still can, it was just a dormant power) and that was about as unique as I got. Pyrocifer was my 'twin brother' who had a body made of fire. We call him my twin because he was born the day after me, even though we aren't related. Race was born three months after us from an _egg._ She was the only bird-kid in existence who's parents were actually birds. The scientists had changed her from one hundred percent bird to only three percent bird while she was still developing. A year ago, we had decided to bust out, but the had sent other mutants after us. Pyro sacrificed himself to let us get away. Almost two months ago, I was kidnapped and experimented on. I was turned into a bird-kid and put with my current flock.

My life is so freaking _complicated._

* * *

**Holy flying crapadoodle, that was long! And I had a hard time focusing because KND is on... Lol.**

***Numbah Four is falling* ****Abby: "IGGY! USE YOUR WINGS!"**

"**Where do you get these facts?" **"**I make 'em up!"**

**I don't own KND either. I only wish.**


	16. Chapter 16: Catching Up

**A/N: Ok, so I don't know where Jessica's going with this, and neither does Jessica. So I guess it's up to me to straighten things out... And just so you know, this might have been a minor plot complication that probably holds no importance... asjkdf;lasdhflkashdfdhjls**

**Confused? So are we. **

**But yeah. Please don't be hating cos Jessica is a confuzzling person...**

**FleaBirdPheonix6 – Who's Josh? Do you mean Noah? LOL. We laughed because we kinda based Noah off of a guy we know, and Noah looks up to this guy named Josh... and yeah. **

**MyrtleFalls – Yeah I have to respond to 2 of your reviews. First of all, would perfect other half be such a bad thing...? Hehe. But it's not like how Dylan and Max are supposed to make babies. It's more like we'd just make a good crime-fighting duo. It's not like romantic... Yet. ;) And for the recent review: Jessica's name will remain Jessica. It's just easier. LOL. And I hope I can portray Race correctly cos I honestly still have no idea how this is all gonna work out... And thanks for all the reviews! Well, actually, thanks EVERYONE for all of the reviews! :D**

**By the way, I write reeeaaalllyyy long author's notes. I'm just a really talkative person. :)**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride is pretty friggin' epic. Sadly, we don't own it.

* * *

**

Chapter Sixteen: Catching Up

Abby POV

Wow... Uber confusing, right?

Jessica had superpowers. And a "twin" brother. And she was part ice? Huh?

So... weird. And complicated.

We were now flying to meet Fang's flock in Arizona, and they were probably a little pissed. No, scratch that. They were probably steaming. I made sure to tell Max this.

She shrugged. "Fang deserves it."

I looked down, guessing what state we were above. "So why exactly did we have to go back to the School?"

She sighed. "Because I need more stories for when I plan to sue Jeb for all he has."

I chuckled. "I'll gladly contribute."

Max and I seemed to be getting along for the time being. We had a lot in common. We both hated Jeb, we were _very_ sarcastic, and we were both a little bossy. Oh, and the fact that we were both of the female gender and tall. We had gotten to know each other very well this week because we happened to be sharing a room.

Finally, we made it. Matt had been waiting outside for us, and when he saw us land, he ran towards Jessica. They embraced, and Matt gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Aww...

The rest of the Fang's flock came out and pointed to Race and Pyro. "Who are they?" a guy asked, pointing in their direction.

"That's Race, and that's Pyrocifer," Jessica replied, pointing at each of them.

The guy shrugged. "Anyways, I'm Fang."

The rest of them introduced themselves to us, and vice versa. Wow, what a big group. Nineteen people. We're just so popular, us mutants.

We decided to get a room reservation just so we could get into the pool. Now, you might be thinking this: "But most of you have wings! Aren't you worried about people seeing your wings?"

Well, let me answer a question with a question. "Would you want to go to the pool if nineteen teenagers (Well, Angel and Gazzy aren't really teens, but they look the part.) were hanging out there?" Let the answer speak for itself.

"Bonzai!" Gazzy shouted as he jumped into the deep end. Nudge giggled, and hopped in right after him. Angel, Noah, Race, Pyro, Max, Dylan, and Holden all hung out in the shallow water. Star, Kate, Maya, and Christine all sunbathed. Iggy, Fang, Ratchet, Jessica, Matt, and I all relaxed in the hot tub.

"Man, she's so hot..." Ratchet muttered, his mouth almost watering. Fang smacked him upside the head.

"What?" Jessica questioned.

"He's obsessing over Kate," Fang explained. I rolled my eyes at him, and he made sure to glare back. He was actually kind of scary when he glared.

"So, Fang, how's it been man?" Iggy asked, smiling. He was sitting right next to me, so he could see everyone in the hot tub.

"Pretty interesting. But we don't have any idea where Doomsday Group is." Fang seemed to be deep in thought. Then, he seemed to snap out of it. "How 'bout you, Ig?"

He shrugged. "Well, we don't really have a plan. Or, if we do have a plan, Max isn't telling us. She's been a little more reserved lately."

Fang looked away awkwardly. I sighed. Max told me about them one night before we went to bed. I couldn't believe that she would even consider being with Dylan after what she had with Fang. And she told me that she still had feelings for Fang in secret. It was a little complicated.

"Oh, and I can see," Iggy remembered to add. Fang looked over, shocked.

"What? How?" he exclaimed.

Iggy simply pointed to me. "Something with Abby, man. I don't know how, but whenever she's close to me, I can see."

Fang waved his hand in front of Iggy to test his vision. Iggy swatted it away.

"Whoa..." Fang murmured.

"I am so confused..." Matt muttered.

Jessica smiled, under his arm. "Iggy's blind."

Matt and Ratchet whispered "Ohhhh" in unison. The rest of us snickered.

Finally, I stood up and got out. "It's too hot in here," I mumbled.

Iggy got up too, realizing that he wouldn't be able to see, and followed me to the pool chairs.

I laid down on my stomach, attempting to get a tan, which in the end is always a failure. I'm just so pale. But the sun is good, especially when you've lived in a freaking cage for the past year.

"So," Iggy said as he was laying down. "Are we 'sunbathing'?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, but it probably won't do us any good. We might even get a little sunburnt. Just make sure to not stay in it too long, and if you get too hot, just jump in the pool."

He grinned in understanding. We both closed our eyes and relaxed.

* * *

**Ladies and gentlemen, WE HAVE A PLAN! ...Sorta. We'll see how we get there. So I apologize for any confusion on the way there. But yeah. Ooh I just had an idea. LOL. **

**Oh, and by the way, let's just pretend that Akila came back from her parents' place and her and Total are guarding the house... Because we keep forgetting to write about them. :) **

**Oh, and one final thing – Messica is SO CUTE! 3**


	17. Chapter 17: Confusion and Chaos

**A/N: I am sick. Yippee. *no enthusiasm whatsoever* My grandparents are visiting too.**

**Anywhoozles, I'm sorry for confusion, but I'm just as frazzled as you are.**

**Heh... Frazzled... What a funny word...**

**OFF TOPIC!**

**Anywho, I'm going to try to clear things up a bit, but confusion is part of my writing style. I'm so sorry about that... :( Really. :(**

**And HOLY FLYING ZEBRAS. We're at 17 chapters! Almost twenty! And we're nowhere near the end! IT'S THE APOCALYPSE! Lol. **

**Also, thanks for all the reviews :)**

**Enjoy, cos we don't own Maximum Ride. Or a jukebox. Sadly.**

**ONWARD!**

* * *

Chapter 17: Confusion and Chaos

Jessica POV

Once Abby and Iggy got out and started sunbathing, I stayed in the hot tub so it wouldn't look like I was following them. But then I started twitching. And fidgeting. Like, literally, bouncing in my seat. Finally, unable to take it any longer, I burst out my seat and made a beeline for the bathroom.

What? A girl's gotta pee!

Anyway, that wasn't the only reason that I went to the potty. I also wanted some alone time to think about stuff. You know, like my memories and life and Race and Pyro and the flock...s and... stuff.

It's not like I could go to our rooms, because A. I wasn't gonna go _all_ the way up to the top floor and into my room just to empty my bladder and B. if I went up there to think, _someone_ would follow me.

The way the rooms were set up was that we had seven rooms on the top floor, all of them next to each other. I was rooming with Race, Christine and Abby in the room to our left. Matt was with Noah and Pyro in the room to our right. Fang, Ratchet, and Holden were in the room to the right of them. Iggy, Gazzy, and Dylan were to _their_ right, and the end of the row. To the left of Christine and Abby were Kate, Star, and Maya. Max, Nudge, and Angel were to the left of _them_, making up the other end. So basically, it went Room 1: Iggy, Gazzy, and Dylan. Room 2: Fang, Ratchet, and Holden. Room 3: Matt, Noah, and Pyro. Room 4: Race and me. Room 5: Christine and Abby. Room 6: Kate, Star, and Maya. Room 7: Max, Nudge, and Angel. I think I made that more complicated than need be.

Anyway, I didn't want anyone following me. So I went to the bathroom.

Okay, let's take a reality check. I have my memories back. Check. I am confused by them. Check. Race is in the bathroom. Check.

Wait. _What?_

"Are you listening to me pee?" I accused, spotting her through the crack in the stall.

"Why yes. It's quite a lovely tune," she retorted wittingly.

"Privacy violation!" I exclaimed. She just laughed.

"Thinking?" she inquired.

"Yes. Now get!" I snapped. She didn't move. I sighed. "Do you mind? It kind makes this awkward, you know," I told her matter of factly.

"The others wanna go out to eat. I suggest you hurry it up or we'll leave you behind." She chuckled and walked out of the bathroom. Huffing, I finished in the bathroom and met up with the others.

* * *

"_Please_ Matt? _Please?"_ We all crowded around him. Or, everyone else did. I stayed back and laughed at his predicament. He squirmed his way out of the group and over to me.

"Save me!" he pleaded. I laughed.

"I agree with them. Why are you against Claim Jumper's?" his face fell when I said that.

"It costs so much money!" he whined.

"Please?" I asked. He shook his head, eyes hard. I pouted. "For me?"

He refused to give in, we sat there in a make-shift staring contest, the loser wins. Not losing eye contact, I leaned forward and kissed him.

"Fine," he grumbled, letting me win. I grinned and turned to the others.

"We're going to Claim Jumper's!" I shouted, causing everyone to cheer in delight. Of course, all the other hotel goers stared at our loudness.

* * *

Once there, we wasted a _lot_ of Matt's money. I swear, Claim Jumper's has _huge_ servings, and even those weren't enough for us mutants!

We were eating and having a blast when something very confusing happened.

"Mom? Dad? Why are you here?" Abby asked, looking at to adults that looked just as shell-shocked as she was.

"Abby?"

* * *

**Why oh why do I always leave with a cliffhanger?**

**Toodles!**


	18. Chapter 18: Hello There!

**A/N: Hiya! I'm also sick, just like Jessica, and I'm being confined to a week in my house with the flu, so don't be surprised by quick updates. Wow! We get to meet my parents! Oh, and by the way, my parents and I DO go on vacation to Arizona to watch baseball, by the way. We didn't make it up. And we took Jessica along last year. That's how we know so much about Arizona.**

**So this was a relatively boring chapter, but I like the end... Hehe. :) And this was a short authors note for me! *sniffle* I'm making great strides here!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own, don't own, don't own!

* * *

**

Chapter Eighteen: Hello There!

My parents? Oh, crap. It was March. Of course, they'd be here!

Oh, let me explain! Every year, my family goes to Arizona for about a week to watch the beginning of baseball. We also would go to the same hotel that we're in right now. That's how we knew all this stuff.

Oh, crap.

"Mom! Dad!" I shouted, and got up to hug them. They hugged me back. "It's me!"

They both started crying. Wow, I never see my dad cry. "We thought you were dead!"

I got all uncomfortable. "Yeah, I was kidnapped by this group..."

Max stood up this time. "I don't think this is the best place to be talking about-"

"Did you kidnap her?" my dad shouted.

"No!" I exclaimed. "They didn't kidnap me." I grabbed their hands and led them to a quieter area. "I was kidnapped at school by scientists. They conducted experiments on me, and..."

My parents started crying again. Oh, geez. "But now you're ok!"

I laughed nervously. "Yeah, about that... I'm not the same person that I used to be. They scientists did one big experiment, and it went in my DNA..."

Ok, so you guys might be getting a little mad at me for telling them everything, but they're my PARENTS. Plus, they'd thought that I was dead for the past year, so I'm pretty sure they'd want to know what happened.

"What are you talking about?" my dad asked, a little bamboozled. **(A/N: AAH! I like that word!)**

I looked around, making sure that nobody was listening in. "I have... Bird DNA." They didn't respond. "I have _wings_ on my back."

They started crying again. "How dare they! We are going to file a lawsuit and-"

I shook my head furiously. "No! We can't let any of this get out yet."

My parents gave me an angry look. "Why wouldn't you want to get back at them?"

I sighed. "It's complicated, alright? We're all following Max, that one girl who stood up earlier. She knows what she's doing, and we can't tell people yet."

My mom sighed in frustration. "Ok, well, will you come back with us?"

I began crying now. "I really wish I could, but I can't."

"What? Why?" my dad exclaimed.

"Because... I can't go back home yet. It'll create a big news story, and I can't risk showing the world my wings, because then they'll find out about the School..." I looked down. "The lab where I was experimented on," I made sure to add.

My parents looked at me warily. "Fine. Can we..." They looked at me awkwardly. "See your wings?"

I grinned and nodded. "Of course. They're pretty cool looking. Oh, and I should introduce you to some people!"

I brought them to our table. "This is Iggy, Jessica, Matt, Fang, Maya, Dylan, Max, Race, Pyro, and yes, Christine."

My parents were surprised to see my best friend, Christine here. "Does she have wings...?"

I nodded. "Yes, all of these people are like us." I went to the second table. "This is Holden, Ratchet, Kate, Star, Nudge, Gazzy, Noah, and Angel."

They greeted them, looking a little overwhelmed. "That's a big group."

I nodded. "Yeah, but not all of these guys have wings. But we all were experimented on. Normally, we're broken up into three smaller flocks."

My parents still looked confused, but decided to let it go.

We talked a little, and they wrote down their room number for me to visit. We hugged goodbye, and they went to their table.

I sat down next to Iggy, smiling.

"So... You look a lot like your mom," Iggy commented.

I chuckled. "Yeah... It sure feels good to see them." He grinned.

Matt clapped his hands. "So, everyone older than fourteen, you're all invited to the pool for a late-night swim right after we get back home."

Nudge, Gazzy, Noah, and Angel all grumbled. Ratchet, Kate, Star, Holden, and Maya all shook their heads. The rest of us agreed to go.

We flew back home while the non-flyers took the bus. Quickly, we changed into the bathing suits that we'd kinda... stole from the store... and we went swimming.

The water was freezing, but we didn't care. It simply meant that we'd be the only ones there! Matt, Jessica, Fang, and Christine all went in the hot tub while the rest of us swam.

Iggy and I went to the deep end. "Are you following me?" I asked playfully.

"Yup. Because I like vision," he responded.

I laughed. "So, how're you doing?"

He began to tread water. "Pretty good. I'm having a pretty good time. How about you?"

"Oh, pretty happy. I missed my parents."

Iggy smiled and went into a back float. Hmm. I never noticed his six pack... I shook my head, trying to snap out of it.

* * *

**Woot woot! Go Iggy! Mmm. Oh my my, Jessica went to the doctor to get a flu test. I might've given it to her... *cringe* Sorry Jessica! **


	19. Chapter 19: Of Parents and Waiters

****

A/N: I HAS COOKIES. Hello, Jessica here. I do NOT have the flu, just a measly sinus infection (SINUSITUS. Lol), but I am still home sick.

**I had very realistic dream last night. Me, Abby, a mystery person, and my friend Juliana were on a road trip. Which is strange in itself because Abby hates road trips. Also, we stopped at this one giant truck stop (WORLD'S LARGEST TRUCK STOP!) and we split up for a little bit. Abby and mystery person went to get food and I really don't know what me and Juliana were supposed to be doing but we somehow got to the point where I had to convince her to come out of a box cos NO she was NOT a genie. The four of us met up and Abby and mystery person gave us our drinks but they had forgotten to buy food. I was mad at Abby because she got me tea instead of Coke when she got all the other drinks right (who mixes up Coke with tea?). For some reason Juliana had no drink. I don't know why that sticks out in my mind. We all got in a truck that wasn't ours (car-jacking lol) with me, Abby, and mystery person crowded in the front with Juliana sprawled out in the back. Abby was driving. Then the scene switched to where me and my mom were going on another road trip but I refused to get out of bed and my grandma was missing, along with the magic marker. I woke up really confused. And the best part? My 'missing' grandma woke me up.**

**I really don't know.**

**My grandpa thinks I should be president even though I told him I don't want to.**

**Maximum Ride belongs to James Patterson. We are not him. Here is where I would normally say something along the lines of "If I owned it, do you really think I would be making fanfiction about it?" I _would_ have said that, until I realized that even if I _did_ write a book, I would still write fanfiction on it. I'm hopeless.**

* * *

Chapter Nineteen: Of Embarrassing Parents and Terrified Waiters

Jessica POV

Abby's parents had told her to invite a few people from our group to dinner with them. She had ended up inviting Iggy, Christine, me, Matt, Max, and Fang. In that order. She then told us of her plan to make sure Max and Fang have to sit next to each other. She, of course, had regretted to mention to them that the other was coming.

That wicked girl.

Anyway, it ended up with this seating order: Abby's dad (Al), her mom (Jenny), Christine, me, Matt, Fang, Max, Iggy, and Abby. Except it was oval-ish so Abby was sitting by her dad.

So here we are, Abby and her parents and Christine catching up, me and Matt interrogating Iggy about random things (mainly about bombs), Max and Fang 'arguing' about something (they really need to just admit that they love each other).

We were talking and all that jazz when something absolutely hilarious happened.

"Abby, I think that boy likes you," Jenny whispered to her, probably forgetting about our enhanced hearing. They had been talking about how Iggy follows her pretty much _everywhere_. Iggy immediately started choking uncontrollably on his drink when he heard that.

"N-no!" he spluttered out, blushing a bright red. I, of course, did that _polite_ thing to do in a situation such as this. I burst into hysterical laughter at him.

I'm so nice.

"Don't deny it Igster," Matt got out between his laughter. Of course, that got Christine and Fang to laugh too, although Fang wasn't as obvious. Max rolled her eyes and grinned while Abby looked positively mortified.

"Well, do you like her or not?" Al asked Iggy.

"No!" the poor boy replied, shaking his head rapidly back and forth.

"Why? How come you don't like her? You got a problem with my daughter?" Al questioned menacingly, obviously deciding to make things difficult for him. Iggy's eyes went wide.

"No! She's great!" he replied, trying to save his skin.

"So you _do _like her?" Jenny added with a raised eyebrows.

"Not like _that!_" Iggy exclaimed desperately, burying his red face in his hands. It was then that Al and Jenny finally laughed.

"_Mom! Dad!_" Abby hissed, blushing almost as much as Iggy. "Do you have to be so _embarrassing?_"

"It's our job," they told her with broad smiles. Every one except Iggy and Abby was laughing at their expense at this point. I think we scared the waitress.

* * *

**This is a short chapter, I'm sorry. I couldn't come up up with much else. I hoped you enjoyed it.**


	20. Chapter 20: Secrets And Shopping

**A/N: Even though that was such a short chapter, it was epic. It made me smile uncontrollably like a doofus and I kept cracking up. And I probably blushed. I get _really_ into stories. And Jessica keeps trying to make my parents read the chapter. Sigh...**

**To JandMbooklovers – We are best friends. We go to the same school, but we only have English together. :( And our teacher doesn't put us next to each other. It sucks. But sometimes we throw the good ol' fashioned peace sign to each other and stick out our tongues. (It's okay if you don't get it. We really didn't expect you to.)**

**So, that was an interesting dream Jessica...**

**This is a really long chapter (compared to all of the other ones in this story) but I just had a _ton_ of stuff I wanted to write. Teehee. :)**

**Anywho, without further rambling, I present Chapter 20. :3**

**Disclaimer: Maximum Ride is not ours, she's Fang's! Geez! She doesn't roll that way, guys!**

**

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Chapter Twenty: Secrets And Shopping

Abby POV

Aren't parents just the most annoying thing in the world?

I guess since I never brought a guy home to hang out to them they were beginners at this. But really Dad? You just _had_ to torture him?

As we were eating, I decided to try and comfort poor startled Iggy.

_My parents were kidding. I think. But they like to do this kind of stuff._ I thought to him.

He was startled at first, but then linked his ankle with mine so we could think to each other.

_What exactly? Embarrassing people?_

I gave him a sad look. _Pretty much._

We continued to mentally complain about my parents and I kept telling him that it was no biggie. I think I calmed him down a bit.

And right then and there, the window behind Matt crashed.

"Jeb!" Max, Iggy, Fang, and I screamed. A bunch of big guys dressed in black came in and overthrew our table.

My parents looked so frightened. _I'm sorry! Just stay back!_ I thought to them. They looked even more freaked out. Oh, right. They didn't know that I could project thoughts. _I can put thoughts into people's minds. It's a power I acquired from being experimented on,_ I mentally explained. They still looked a little startled, but they backed away.

Max was sneering at Jeb. The hatred in her eyes was scary. I was afraid, and she was on _our_ side.

"What do you and your posse want this time?" she snarled.

Jeb gave her a sad look. "You haven't been keeping up on your job to save the world, Max."

"You really shouldn't give such a stressful job to a fifteen-year-old," Fang responded. I grinned a little smugly. He was _standing up for her_. There was no way that he was over it.

Iggy sent me a questioning look. I ignored it, but tried to stay next to him so he could see.

Jeb decided to overlook Fang's comment, and peered at Iggy and I. "Aah, so I see you two have crossed paths."

My eyes grew wide. What were the evil scientists plotting now? "What about it?" I questioned.

He just chuckled. "You've met your perfect other half."

_Whaa?_

Max looked infuriated, and growled at Jeb, getting closer to punch him.

Jeb put his hands up in surrender, backing away. "Not like you and Dylan, of course. We don't expect them to produce viable offspring."

"Ew. That's sick," Iggy muttered. I nodded in agreement.

"No, we just created Abby so Iggy could see. We wanted him to have a partner so he could defend himself properly," Jeb explained.

Even though it didn't seem like a big deal at first, it was starting to make me feel sick.

"You didn't create me, my parents did!" I shouted, motioning over to where they were watching us.

Jeb shook his head. "I guess we didn't 'create' you, but we gave you the avian DNA for him, and we injected you with a certain chemical so he could see you."

"How is that even possible?" Max asked with her hand covering her face in annoyance.

"Well, you see," Jeb began. "When the original flock was in Antarctica, do you remember how Iggy could see the landscape?" Max, Fang, and Iggy slowly nodded their heads. "Well, we found a chemical with a _very_ long name in there, and we simply injected Abby with it."

I felt _very_ sick now. I sat down on a remaining chair, holding my head. I know that I'm being a little melodramatic, but if you were kidnapped and experimented on _just so_ you could cover up a scientist's accident... That's just _low_.

Max seemed to understand how I felt, so she turned to Jeb and punched him in the gut.

"You stupid Whitecoats are so messed up," she gritted through her teeth.

Then, one of the henchmen grabbed her, holding her back. Fang seemed to get offended, so he went to attack, but another guy came up behind him and snatched his arms.

Matt, Jessica, and Christine all looked at each other. Matt nodded, and then they went into a fight.

Finally, I sucked it up, and Iggy and I joined the fight. My parents were probably freaking out, no doubt. They'd never seen me get into a physical altercation before, so this was a day of firsts for them.

Although we didn't have any experience in fighting, the old timers (a.k.a. Matt, Christine, and I) had about a year's worth of fighting lessons, so now was the time to learn to apply them. Iggy had a lot of experience. Jessica had zero, so she sort of stood by Matt's side awkwardly, attempting kicks here and there.

I picked one of the four henchmen and chose to beat him up. It didn't go as well as I planned. I tried to punch him, but he'd back out of the way. I finally kicked him, but he just grabbed my leg. So with all my strength, I lifted my remaining foot and kicked him where it counts. That's right. _That_ area. He fell down, letting go of my leg to protect himself. I fell down and hit my head.

"Oww..." I mumbled, and then I think I blacked out a bit.

* * *

Iggy POV

I was in the middle of prying Fang out of one of the guy's arms. I saw Abby out of the corner of my eye kick one of the attacker's groin, so I decided to copy her. I told Fang to kick between the legs. He smiled evilly. We never played dirty, especially considering the fact that we're _guys_, but it was an easy out.

He let go of Fang, and then Fang went right toward Max to get her out, no doubt with the same technique. The other three seemed to have the last man under control, so I went to Abby. She was on the ground, her eyes closed. The man was also on the ground, writhing in pain.

"Oh no!" I shouted, and then picked her up so nobody could step on her. After I stood up, I kicked the guy in the gut to make sure he couldn't get up. Satisfaction filled my body.

I desperately looked around for Abby's parents. They were watching us, shocked.

"Here," I said quickly, handing her off to her dad. They looked at me gratefully.

I went to help Fang, but it seemed that all of the guards were handled. All four were on the ground. It seemed that we'd disabled them.

I had to stay closer to them so I could see. Jeb had a shocked look on his face.

"So," Max interrogated, "what exactly did you come here for?"

He began to sweat. "I wanted to bring you to the School..."

Fang went for a punch, but Jeb ran away like a coward. I smiled a little, enjoying his discomfort. Fang and Max finally looked at each other, seeming to have unsaid words between them. _Good, they need to make up anyways,_ I thought.

I turned to Al and Jenny. Abby began to stir, and her mom kissed her forehead. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain for never having real parents.

"Thank you _so_ much, Iggy," Jenny told me gratefully.

I shrugged. "It's nothing, really."

Al shook his head. "No, it was something. Let us take you two somewhere nice for dinner."

I squirmed uncomfortably, and Abby grimaced, just picking up what happened.

"Not as a date," Jenny added.

Abby looked straight at me. _It's not a date. Just go to make them happy._ She grinned. _Maybe they'll leave us alone afterwards._

"Alright," I breathed.

They both smiled. "But if we're going out to eat..." Jenny trailed off.

Abby sighed. "They want you to dress nicely." She looked up to her parents. "You're going to need to buy us nice clothes then because we don't have anything but what we're wearing."

They both grinned. "Then we're going clothes shopping," Jenny announced.

* * *

Both of us sighed in annoyance as Jenny led us through the Target.

"I'm so, so, so sorry that my parents are so annoying," Abby whispered.

I chuckled. "It's alright. I don't really mind the embarrassment they give us when the others aren't around."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well, _I_ mind it."

Jenny and I made Abby get clothes first. She picked a skirt surprisingly, and a white collared shirt. She had to try them on, so I sat outside of the changing room, now blind. It was pretty horrible.

I reflected. Now that I had the ability to see, I didn't ever want to go back to being blind. That was a bit of a flaw that the scientists never saw. I snickered, realizing that I'd just outsmarted them.

Abby came walking out to where I was sitting in her new outfit. My eyes widened, but I quickly snapped out of it.

"What do you think?" she asked, staring straight at me.

The blouse was fitted, and the arms had three-quarter sleeves. (I curse Nudge for knowing these terms.) The skirt had a nice bounce to it, and it barely came above her knees. It was black with pink flowers that looked like they were painted with water colors. It looked... nice.

"You look great," I murmured. Abby grinned, and went back to the changing rooms. After she finished, she and Jenny came out.

Unfortunately, I was next. I had to try on a dress shirt and find dress pants that were long enough and skinny enough. (Why do clothing makers assume that the taller you are, the wider you are?) After finding a pair, we had to look for ties. Yes, _ties_. Jenny made me get one.

Abby searched for ties that weren't too feminine while Jenny looked for a tie for Al.

"Here," Abby stated, holding up a red and black striped tie to my face. "Do you like it?"

I nodded. "But I don't know how to put a tie on."

She smiled, and I tried hard not to look too long. Wait, _what?_ Never mind. "I'll show you. I learned a long time ago from my dad." She began doing an intricate knot that I was unable to follow along. She tightened it.

"Uh, Abby? Too tight," I choked.

She laughed. "Sorry!" After loosening it, she looked up. We stared right into each other's eyes. Abby bit her lip, and finally let go of the tie and looked away, blushing.

We finally went and bought everything. On the drive back home, I couldn't help but wonder what all of these feelings meant.

_Am I starting to develop feelings for Abby?_

_

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_

**Aaaiiieee! I just couldn't help myself. I would've stopped after the fight, but I didn't want to leave all of this to Jessica. Woot woot! And don't think of Abby like Dylan! She wasn't programmed to like him or anything, just made to be his fighting partner! So don't get mad! ;) I've actually planned that whole plot line out for a while. I attempted to write the whole story, but it moved too fast. That's why I'm writing it with Jessica.**

**Wow, I feel so awkward about writing my parents' names...**

**Oh, one more thing: Thank you for LoveSaphire for your support of Igby. I smiled like a dork after I read your comment. LOL. **

**Oh, but I still wanna talk. I feel, like, really awkward about making a character has already been established (a.k.a. Iggy) to like someone else like a character I made. I don't know why, but I feel very selfish about it. LOL. So don't worry. I'll start liking him too. It just makes me feel better. Teehee! :) **

**But yeah. If none of this made any sense, I'm terribly sorry. **


	21. Chapter 21: Explanations

**I have decided to write a story on this account (so Abby can add to it if she wants to) that involves Fred and George Weasely from Harry Potter, Iggy and Gazzy, and many, **_**many**_**,**_** MANY, **_**explosions. I am telling you this because if you are interested, please leave a comment on what you want them to blow up, and I will try to fit it in. Just no people, please. You don't need to have read Harry Potter (I know there are people who haven't) in order to understand the plot of my story. It will be called "Are you SURE this is flammable?" and will being generally strange. Meaning, the results of each explosion will be highly ridiculous. Example? Object: Max's alarm clock. Result: Monkey dung in a variety of colors splattering everything within a mile radius.**

**Also, I really like co-writing stories, so if you're interested, leave me a message on my main account (Quicquidlibet) with your story idea and a general description of your writing style. I'd love to write with you.**

**Anyway, we don't own anything, not even the rainbow colored monkey dung.**

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Chapter Twenty-One: Explanations

Jessica POV

"Have fun on your date!" Matt called as Abby and Iggy went to meet Al and Jenny.

"It's not a date!" they protested, blushing.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that!" I shouted with a grin. The hotel door slammed shut.

"So, what did you guys wanna tell me?" Matt turned his attention to me, Race, and Pyro. The three of us had decided it was time to tell him about my past.

"Well, okay. Let's start," I said uneasily. "You know how we were late meeting you guys here?"

"Yeah," he replied, looking confused.

"That was for two reasons," Pyro stated.

"First, we had to rescue this old lump of mutant," Race said, nudging Pyro. "Second, we had to get this little lady's memories back," she continued, ruffling my hair. Which was kinda irritating. But oh well.

"You got your memories back?" Matt asked me in surprise. I nodded.

Now, since I'm too lazy to tell you who said what, I'll just tell you what we basically went over.

Basically, we talked about my body of ice and Pyro's body of fire. Now that does not mean that I will give you frostbite and Pyro will burn you. Or that you can kill me by melting me (don't even try it. If you do, I'll kill you). It just means that my blood is colder than normal, like Pyro's is warmer. I can also take pure water into my blood stream without it killing off all my blood cells. Yippee. Pyro can walk through flames without burning, by the way. Just a little tidbit I'd thought you'd enjoy. I discovered a few years ago that I can make ice and water materialize and use them as weapons, though I have yet to reacquire this power in my bird form. Pyro... Well, Pyro is a pyromaniac, to be blunt. He can control fire, and he does so gleefully. Seriously, he has Gazzy and Iggy beat in the explosive department. Do _not_ go near him when he smells of sulfur. Just a warning.

After a while we started talking about my force field, which I didn't have before my DNA was mixed with an owl's, so it was new to my old 'siblings'. Basically, all I have to do is push my energy outward and voila! A force field.

I still wonder why it's purple.

The world will never know...

* * *

**I'm sorry, I keep making short chapters. I'm just really bad at explaining things and such. I'm better at comic relief. And, oddly enough, romance.**

**Toodles,**

**~Jessica**


	22. Chapter 22: Getting Acquainted

**A/N: Abby here, reporting for duty. Right now, as I'm writing this, Jessica hasn't written Chapter 21. But I was just so anxious! I'm on a roll, so I can't stop for any reason or else it'll all be gone!**

**So I can't think of much to say for this chapter, other than I'm making it up as I go along. Where it ends, nobody knows! *mysterious music***

**Aww, Jessica texted me that I'm weird. My response: No freaking DUH. :D**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Maximum Ride. If you look on the cover of each book, it says James Patterson on it. Not Abby & Jessica.**

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Chapter Twenty-Two: Getting Acquainted Over Dinner

Abby POV

It was four thirty at night, and I knew I had to get dressed for dinner with Iggy and my parents.

Christine was sprawled across the bed, flipping through the channels on the TV. "So, this _isn't_ a date?"

I groaned. "No, it's not. My parents invited him, thank you very much."

She snickered. "Whatever. Hey – why are you wearing a skirt? You _never_ wear skirts."

I stuck my tongue out at her. "It was the only nice thing there. Besides, Target pants are never long enough on me."

I went into the bathroom and changed into the outfit. After that, I looked at my face. Wow. I never thought I'd miss makeup more than I did right now. My hair wasn't too bad, but that was because I'd let it air-dry, so it was pretty curly.

"Hey, I'm going down to Nudge's room to get some of her emergency makeup," I informed Christine.

She jumped off the bed. "She has makeup on her?"

I laughed and motioned for her to come with me. We walked out and went two rooms down . I knocked, and Max answered.

"Well, aren't you all fancy?" she inquired.

I rolled my eyes, grinning. "Does Nudge have her emergency makeup?" I asked.

"You bet I do!" Nudge shouted from the back of the room. Max sighed and let us in. Nudge and Angel were in the bedroom, watching TV while Nudge was braiding Angel's hair.

"Can I use it too?" Christine pleaded. Nudge nodded and pointed to the bathroom. On the counter, there were three different colored eyeliner pencils, two different mascaras, an eyeshadow case, and some concealer. Since Nudge and I didn't have the same skin tone, I casted that aside and went straight to the onyx eyeliner. Christine got the charcoal black eyeliner and waterproof mascara and immediately applied it. I took the eyeshadow and applied the pastel pink color. Then, I snatched the remaining mascara and put it on.

After deciding that we looked presentable, Christine and I left. We both went to the farthest room.

Gazzy answered the door after I knocked. "Oh, hey guys! Come in!" he exclaimed. We both grinned at his sweetness and entered.

There, Dylan and Iggy were sitting on the couch, watching TV. Well, Dylan was watching TV, really. Iggy was still wearing his regular clothes while Dylan was in his boxers.

"Oh, geez, Dylan! Put on some clothes!" I yelled. I looked at Christine beside me, and she was blushing. Oh dear...

He laughed and went to the bedroom to change. I walked over to the couch and kicked Iggy.

"Oh, hi!" he greeted, looking up. "You look nice."

I rolled my eyes. "You're supposed to be getting dressed! We have to meet my parents at five in the lobby!"

Iggy got up, grumbling. "Stop nagging me!"

"Wow, you two are like a married couple," Dylan stated.

"No we're not!" we both replied at the same time.

"Ok, I'm just saying..." Dylan put up his hands. Then, he went back to the couch, now in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He patted the seat next to him while looking up at Christine. She smiled and sat down next to him. Gazzy took the chair right next to it.

I followed Iggy to make sure he got his clothes. Then, he closed the bathroom door while sticking his tongue out at me. I waited impatiently by the table next to the bathroom, tapping my foot.

"You need to _calm down_," Gazzy suggested.

I groaned. "I know, but it's my parents." Of course, none of them really understood except for Christine. "Oh, right. You wouldn't get it."

Iggy opened the door and held out the tie, wordlessly telling me to put it on him. I went up to him and began tying it.

"Not too tight again," Iggy reminded me. I raised my eyebrow at him, and made it really tight before loosening it again. He coughed.

"Ok, we're going. Christine, here's the room key," I announced, giving Christine the card. "We'll try to be back before late. But if we're not back by eleven, something horrible has happened."

"Geez, you sound like Max," Gazzy responded.

"Yeah, whatever," I muttered as we closed the door.

Iggy and I walked to the elevators. "So, are you prepared to be embarrassed again?" I questioned.

He sighed. "Not really."

I smiled and looked up at him. He had to have been at least five inches taller than me, if not more, and it didn't bother me in the slightest. I actually enjoyed being shorter than other people. But what _was_ bothering me was how close Iggy was standing next to me.

We had a staring contest, but without the blinking rule. Finally, I had to look away. One thing you should know about me is that I suck at staring contests. I always end up laughing because I cannot stay serious for long. He smirked, but then looked out at the pool through the glass wall in the elevator.

"I just want to say thanks," I whispered.

He gave me a weird look. "For what?"

I shrugged. "Everything, really. For saving me from getting stepped on, for being my friend, and for being willing to hang out with my parents."

He gave me a half smile that made my heart flutter. Wait, forget I said that. I was _not_ developing feelings for him.

"It's really nothing. Besides, I like a free meal. The embarrassment is a little annoying though," he added.

I nodded. "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, they're embarrassing me too when they say that kind of stuff."

We stopped by the pool to tell some of the others that we were gone, which were Matt, Jessica, Pyro, and Race.

"We're taking off you guys," I announced.

They waved goodbye, and as we were walking away, Matt made sure to add, "Have fun on your date!"

"It's not a date!" we shouted back. Red spread across both of our cheeks. Geez, when would we ever get used to people telling us this?

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that!" Jessica called after us. I resisted the urge to shoot her the bird.

My parents were waiting for us. "Finally!" my mom exclaimed, and then gave us both hugs. Iggy stood uncomfortably while her arms were wrapped around him. I taunted him mentally afterwards while he just glared at me.

They drove us to some restaurant, I honestly forget what the name was. But it was very fancy. When we entered, I didn't feel overdressed.

Iggy and I sat on the same side, my dad across from Iggy and my mom across from me.

"So, how long have you known each other?" my mom asked, trying to make conversation.

I put my face in my hands. "We're not a couple, mom," I gritted through my teeth.

"I just want to know!"

Iggy smiled charmingly. "About two weeks."

Dad raised his eyebrows. "Only two weeks? You act like it's been longer."

I wanted to just run away. Why do parents have to make things so awkward?

"Well, we've been hanging out for a while. I will confess, I follow her around so I can see," Iggy answered.

Aww, he was being such a good sport. I brought my ankle to his. _Thank you for answering so politely._

_No problem. _

Finally, the waiter came over and got our orders. Before she left, she made sure to tell us what a good couple we made. Iggy and I turned red, and then in sync, we put our heads in our hands. My parents found this amusing.

My dad and Iggy began talking, probably so dearest Father could get to know him and give him his approval, even though we'd made it very clear that we were _not dating_. I shoved my ankle to my mom's.

_Why does everyone keep insisting that we're going out? _I asked her. She looked at me confused. _Mom, just think back to me. I can have mental conversations with other people if we're touching. _

She nodded, finally understanding. _It's probably because you two look cute together._

I closed my eyes. _But I barely know him._

_Well, you sure don't act like it._ She raised her eyebrows.

I sighed. _Ok, so is it bad to start dating if you haven't known the other person for a long time?_

She smiled. _No, dating is good for you to get to know another person. If you start out slow and build up to a strong relationship, there's no problem. Just don't move too fast._

I took a deep breath. _So do you like him?_ my mom thought back.

I shrugged. _Maybe, a little. Do you think he likes me?_

_He might. I don't know what your father thinks, but I approve._

I blushed a little, but looked down to my drink to think. Finally, the food came. Iggy and I dug into our food, us ravenous bird kids. My parents took their time. After half an hour, everyone was through with their dinners, so we conversed. It actually wasn't that bad.

Finally, at eight, we went back to the hotel.

"Oh, before you go..." my dad began.

"Can we see," mom said as she looked around, "_your wings?_"

We both looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure," I replied.

We went to my parents room. They closed the windows and the door. I had to take off my shirt, leaving just my tank top, which had holes in the parts where my wings sprouted out. Iggy gave me a small nod, and I unfurled them. _Mmm._ It felt great to let them out.

My parents looked amazed. They came over and touched them.

"Ok, now let's see yours!" my mom squealed excited, looking over at Iggy. He shrugged and took off his shirt. I had to look away from his shirtless body or I'd be caught staring. He gracefully released his wings. They were a good two feet longer than mine. We were both staring right at each other as my parents examined them.

"I know that it's a bad thing that you were experimented on, but they look beautiful," my mom murmured. I nodded, and both of us folded our wings and began to put our shirts back on.

"Well, thanks for going to dinner with us," my dad said, rubbing his hands together. He whispered to Iggy, "You have my approval." I know I wasn't supposed to have heard it, but let me reiterate – us bird kids have enhanced hearing. You can't keep secrets from us. I turned to the door, trying to hide my blush. We walked out, heading towards the elevator again.

"It's nice to know that my parents approve," I muttered.

Iggy raised his eyebrows. "You heard that?"

I nodded. "Yeah, and my mom said the same thing to me." I sighed and looked up at him as the elevator doors were closing. I was leaning on the side, while he was standing right in front me. "Why does everybody think that we're a couple?"

"Maybe it's because we look cute together," he answered.

"What?" I quizzed.

"Nothing," he stated, suddenly looking away.

It was silent for next ten seconds, so I poked him in the stomach.

"What the heck?" he shouted, stepping back.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I like poking people."

He gave me a funny look, but let it go. Finally, we got to our floor. I got to my room door, and before I knocked, Iggy asked me one more question.

"Do you like me?"

My eyes widened. "I don't know. Do you like me?"

He shrugged. "I dunno."

"Wow, that was a clear answer," I retorted.

"Right back at you," he responded as he knocked.

Christine came running out of his room, smiling. "Sorry, Abby! I'm coming!"

We both got into the room, and looked at each other.

"I like Dylan!" she announced at the same time I said, "I like Iggy!"

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**Wow, another long chapter. Probably the longest chapter we have. But it was mostly conversation. Ugh I still feel awkward about writing about Igby! Grr! And yet, I don't feel awkward about Dyline (Dylan + Christine. Yeah, we don't feel bad about Maya not having anybody. She's annoying.) I think it's because I'm writing about _myself._ I feel like an obsessed fangirl. Actually, I AM and obsessed fangirl. But yeah... Bye?**

**P.S. This is Abby after Jessica posted her chapter. I had to edit this one a bit. Not that you'd notice.**


	23. Chapter 23: Interrogation Number One

**Jessica here.**

**"The most romantic way for a guy to propose to a girl is to spell out 'Will you marry me?' in bacon." - Abby.**

**Yes, this is an actual quote by her.**

**And Abby, of course you're weird, you're friends with me! I just felt like pointing out the obvious!**

**Ack, this is really awkward. The guy I like is texting me while I write this and asking questions about it. Now I feel awkward cos Matt is with my character. And we know someone named Matt (he was not based off him). By the way Abby, Zach is wondering why you never text him back. I told him that you're being lazy. He said to tell you to text him. *is really jealous of you***

**I had a really witty disclaimer for you all, but I kinda forgot it. Ah well. We no own. Sorry to disappoint.**

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Chapter Twenty-Three: Interrogation Number One

Jessica POV

Have I ever mentioned that I'm slightly sadistic and enjoy making people uncomfortable? No? Well, I told you now.

Why am I suddenly informing you of this disturbing fact? Why don't you ask the bright red boy sitting in front of me and Christine.

"Do all of you people enjoy making me embarrassed?" Iggy asked, his face a brilliant shade of red, it was kinda funny looking.

"Yes," I replied immediately as Christine said, "No, we just want to know."

Iggy blindly glared at me. "Hey, you asked!" I exclaimed, raising my hands in front of me in a sort of 'back off' gesture that he missed because Abby was not in the room.

"Will you please tell us how your dinner went?" Christine asked, trying to placate him and _not_ embarrass and irritate him.

What? I never said I was good at interrogations, did I?

"Her dad, um, kinda, uh, told me I had, er, his... approval. And apparently, um, her mom, er, told her that, uh, I had her, um, approval too..." he mumbled out. Both me and Christine grinned like maniacs.

"So..." she began.

"Do you like her?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and he 'looked' at me warily before nodding.

"I knew it!" Christine exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and striking a victory pose.

"You do realize that you have to ask her out now, right?" I informed him. His eyes widened considerably before he started stuttering like mad.

"W-what? No! I mean... What if she doesn't... She doesn't like me!" he finally shouted frantically, shaking his head like crazy.

"Ig, it's kinda obvious that she likes you," I chortled as Christine began her victory dance.

"You better ask her out you silly goose!" she added, not pausing in her dance.

"Umm..." Iggy began, somehow managing to blush even brighter. "Will you help?"

"Spell it out in bacon," I responded immediately. Christine stopped dancing and the two stared at me (or in Iggy's case, my general direction) in silence, utterly bewildered. "What? She really likes bacon!"

"You are not doing that," Christine ordered Iggy, and he nodded uncertainly.

"Fine," I huffed. "Don't listen to me. Just you wait. You'll see. She'll find out about this one day and she'll want to know why you didn't go with the bacon idea."

The two ignored my suggestions after that before coming up with a plan for him to use.

* * *

**Abby is no longer the only Super Dork in love with a fictional character, bytheway. I myself have fallen for Fred Weasely, wizard extraordinaire. I solemnly swear that Fred never died and George wears blue boxers! I am a member of the Twin Exchange.**

**Lol, now I gotta add that to my profile.**

**Ta-ta!**

**~Jessica**

**ps. I'm truly sorry for the short chapters. I'll write more when the plot picks up. Hopefully.**


	24. Chapter 24: Second Interrogation

**A/N: I will confirm that I said the most romantic way for a guy to propose to a girl is to spell it out in bacon. I seriously believe in that. Laugh at me all you want, but it's true. ;)**

**And Jessica, I'm sorry. I do NOT like him in that way, I promise! I don't know why he's been texting me more lately. If he likes me, I will tell him off. I will give him attitude, I don't care. Cos nobody two-times my dear Jessica! **

**Dear MyrtleFalls: I hope that I portrayed Race correctly. I think she is very awesome in this chapter. You'll see why later. I also apologize for being very hyper in the PM. LOL.**

**One final thing – This is it! This is the chapter I've been waiting for! YIPEE! And it's also a lot shorter than my previous two, so I don't know if that's a good thing or not. It's also got a lot of conversation.**

**I don't feel like putting "Disclaimer:" in front of this anymore, so yeah. OH – we don't own it by the way, in case you forgot!

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Chapter Twenty-Four: Second Interrogation

Abby POV

"You're coming with us," Race commanded, grabbing my arm.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

Pyro grinned evilly. "We're going to interrogate Matt and make sure that he's right for dear ol' Jessica."

I smiled back. "And we're going to make him ask her out."

Race jumped. "They're not going out already?" I shook my head. "But they kiss..."

"I know. Matt's a scaredy-cat," I replied, and the other two snickered.

We knocked on the room of Pyro, Matt, and Noah. Matt answered, and we barged in.

"Yeah, you can come in," Matt grumbled as he sat down on the chair. The three of us sat on the couch without any invitation.

"So, Matt..." Race began.

"When do you plan on asking Jessica out?" I blurted. Messica is just so cute, I couldn't subtly get to it.

Matt turned red. "I don't know."

"C'mon, you know she's going to say yes! Just ask her out and make it official already!" Race urged.

Matt held in his breath, then finally let it out. "I was actually planning on it..."

"Really?" Race and I squealed, Pyro just listened.

"...Yeah," he said quietly. "But I don't know how."

I grinned like a doofus. "Take her to the Grand Canyon or something and ask her. Be super romantic."

Matt gave me a weird look. "She's not really the... romantic type."

I smiled. "I know. But just do something special since you two haven't been very... err... traditional in the way you do things."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Whatever. But what do I say?"

Pyro decided to chip in. "Ask her on a date."

"How?" Matt questioned, frustrated.

Race grabbed his hand. "Pretend I'm you, and you're Jessica." Matt's eyes grew wide, but he didn't say anything. "Jessica, I've been meaning to do this for a while, but since we got sidetracked, I had to wait until now." Race put his right hand in both of hers. "Will you marry me?"

"No!" Matt shouted, taking his hand out of hers. "I am not proposing!" he spat as we all laughed until our sides hurt. Race and I almost fell to the ground.

"I'm serious, guys!" he exclaimed. We rolled our eyes.

"Just say what she said, but instead of asking her to marry you, just say, 'Will you go out with me?'" I explained.

"Or ask her on a date. Whichever you feel most comfortable with," Pyro added.

Matt looked down and sighed. "Alright."

* * *

Iggy and I were laying on the roof of the hotel, watching planes fly by.

"What makes them fly?" Iggy asked.

I smiled. "I have no idea."

Iggy went silent for a moment, and I didn't even bother to try and read his thoughts. The butterflies in my stomach were telling me that I'd soon find out.

He sat up suddenly, and then turned to me. "Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

I sat up and began to laugh. "No, I have _not_ had a girlfriend."

Iggy suddenly realized what he said, and ruffled through his hair. "Gah, I mean boyfriend!"

I grinned. "Yes, I have had boyfriends before, but never a serious boyfriend."

He nodded. "I had this one girl..."

I looked straight at him. "I heard. What was her name again?"

"Ella," he responded. "I don't know if I could call her my girlfriend, but we kind of had a thing..."

I nodded. "Angel and Nudge told me a little bit about it. How come you guys aren't looking after her?"

He shrugged. "We don't really know where to look because she was a little vague. We assumed that she went back to this one school for loonies, but we have no idea." He shook his head and looked at me. "But I've moved on."

"Oh, okay," I said. "But we should really go looking for her."

"That's what we were planning to do before Jessica tortured us to come here."

I laughed. "Yeah, a little bit annoying. I'm sorry she hit you."

He laughed, but then grew silent again. I turned to poke him, but he caught my approaching finger and redirected it to the air. I crossed my arms. "No fair," I muttered.

It was silent again, but we were staring at each other. Iggy's hand moved to my hair. He brushed through it, and brought it behind my ear. Instantly, my stomach went crazy and my face turned a lovely shade of scarlet. But I liked the way it felt.

Without much thought, I sent him a thought. _Do you like me?_

_Yeah,_ he thought back.

Our foreheads rested against each other. "I like you too," I whispered.

He place his lips right against mine, and everything went numb in my body. All I knew was Iggy right there beside me, and that was all I truly cared about.

* * *

**AIIIIEEEEEEEEE! Finally! I've been waiting for this moment for quite a while now, and it has officially happened. Although I did feel extremely awkward writing about it. So if the "romanticness" isn't really romantic, I'm sorry, I've never had a serious boyfriend. (As I mentioned before.) **

**So umm yeah? I guess that's all I have to say. Farewell from the world of tomorrow! (If anyone can get where that's from, I will commend you. But I totally doubt anyone will get it...)**


	25. Chapter 25: Oh Stupid Me

**I'M NOT DEAD! ISN'T THAT AMAZING?**

**Tis Jessica who shouts so. Howdy all, long time no see!**

**To be perfectly honest with you, I was putting this off cos I HAVE NO IDEAS. But alas, Abby told me to update, and who am I to argue with that logic? (Er... What logic?)**

**Myrtle: I think he's coming up soon. I'm not sure cos Abby currently has the reigns. We switch the reigns back and forth depending on who has an idea.**

**Abby says to tell you all that the action is coming up soon and you have to be patient.**

***flails arms* We don't own! Stop accusing us of doing so!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Five: Oh Stupid Me

Jessica POV

I have concluded that I am an idiot.

I have also concluded that I am even more of an idiot for concluding that at a time like this.

Why am I an idiot, you ask? Well, to explain, we need to back up a bit...

* * *

This Morning:

"Hey Matt!" I exclaimed, waving like a doofus. I had just walked into his hotel room. He and Noah were watching the TV, Pyro was nowhere to be seen.

"Hi," he replied, grinning at me.

"How's life?" I asked pleasantly, too lazy to come up with a substantial question.

"You know, same old, same old." Matt laughed. "I was wondering, do you wanna go to the Grand Canyon with me?"

"Sight-seeing?" I bounced with excitement. Literally. "Of course!"

"Can I come?" Noah asked, turning his attention to us with a hopeful expression.

"Sure thing, little man," I replied with a strange accent. Proof of idiocy number one: Matt's face dropped a little bit. I didn't notice at the time.

* * *

"Echo!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, trying to get my voice to reverberate throughout the canyon. Yeah, that was disappointing.

"Can we go down to the bottom?" Noah asked, wide-eyed and in wonder. Matt laughed.

"Not legally," he told him.

"Since when has that ever stopped us?" I asked with a maniacal look in my eye.

"Tons of times," Noah replied easily.

"I blame Abby. She's the law-abide-r. She's the only reason we ain't arrested by now." I waved my hand dismissively, twirling on the heel of my feet and turning myself around and around as I babbled incessantly. "You know, I always wondered, if Abby's the most responsible, why are you in charge?" I asked Matt, tilting my head in curiosity.

"Cos you all _love_ me!" he exclaimed arrogantly, grinning at my sarcastic 'sure' and Noah's laugh.

"So are we breaking the law or not?" Noah asked, making me gasp in mock horror.

"Oh no!" I cried in exaggeration. "We've corrupted him!"

"Oh, the horror!" Matt cried next to me. Noah looked at us both weirdly before realizing we were kidding. "Sorry buddy, no can do. If we get arrested, Abby will murder me."

We meandered around for a bit until Noah stated – quite loudly, I might add – that he had to go to the bathroom and didn't want Matt coming with. So we sat in the dirt, me with my legs in the crisscross-applesauce position, him with his legs sprawled out in front of him.

"Er..." he began. "Do you know why I asked you to come with me?" he asked, breaking our companionable silence. I shot him a questioning look and his face reddened a bit. "This was going to be a date." And that's proof of my idiocy number two.

So now both our faces were red and I was open-mouthed.

"Oh." Brilliant response, I know. "Um. Sorry I let Noah come."

"It's fine," he told me with a laugh. "He would've bugged me if he didn't come. This way we're both happy. He got to come here, I got to spend the day with you." He smiled at me and I smiled back, still red in the face.

"This was fun. We need to do this more often," I stated firmly, grinning maniacally. What can I say, I get smiley when I'm nervous.

"Then will you be my girlfriend?" Matt asked awkwardly. I beamed and opened my mouth to reply.

And then the world kerploded.

* * *

**Haha kerploded. That's a word that Abby uses all the time.**

"**Someone must have turned the world into a quaffle, Hermione Granger just appeased my ego!" That's a quote from one of my stories. Cracks me up whenever I read it.**

**The poll for the April Twin Exchange will be up on 4/20. The link to the TE is on my main profile, can any Harry Potter fans please go vote? You don't have to vote for mine if you like the other oneshots better, but I'd really appreciate it if you did. Kthnxbaii.**

**~Jessica**


	26. Chapter 26: The Pool Explodes

**A/N: Heyyooooo it's Abby. You've been waiting for it – here's the action! And Jessica is right – I am basically running the show right now since Jessica really doesn't know what to write about. But I figured it out, and somebody's gonna die later on. Not now, but in the future... Oh, and we're gonna make Fang's gang (except for Maya) go away so characters are less confusing. I don't believe I've ruined it for you.**

**ALSO. I'm going to write in Matt's POV, something we haven't experienced. It might seem like he's a bit OOC, but here are the facts:**

**He's in danger, so his thought processes are a lot more serious, and**

**He might possibly be a normal person inside.**

**So yeah. Here we go!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Pool Explodes

Matt POV

My stomach was jumping. This was it...

"Then will you be my girlfriend?" I asked. I don't know why I was so nervous, she had to say yes. She felt the same way. Unless she thought we were friends with benefits... I mentally shuddered at the thought. I'd done it once before. Never, ever again.

She smiled and was about to answer until something blew up behind her.

I jumped over her and protected her without thinking. Debris flew around and the dust was horrible. I yelled in Jessica's ear for her not to open your eyes. Someone said this on a TV show, and I completely agree – The eyes are like the groin of the head. Ain't that the truth.

"Matt!" I heard a small voice scream.

Oh crap. Noah was somewhere else.

"Stay here!" I instructed Jessica as I got up. I peaked through my fingers. The dust seemed to be a little more settled now, but the noise was getting louder. People were shouting something very interesting.

"Save the world! Destroy the humans!"

Alright, that made absolutely no sense, but I didn't bother to go correct them. Instead, I followed Noah's yelling. I finally ran into him.

"Ok, we need to get Jessica and hover over everyone!" I instructed, my natural leadership skills taking over. I was picked leader for a reason, no offense Abby.

I grabbed Jessica by the arm and we flew over everyone protesting. There were picket signs everywhere, and they were screaming the same old chant about destroying the humans over and over again.

I decided that the best thing to do was to fly over to the hotel and tell Max since she probably knew more than I did.

When we got there, they were all hanging out at the pool, so we just flew into the pool area. Not a very good idea since people could have seen us, but I didn't hear any loud gasps, so I'm hoping nobody saw us.

"Max, we've got to tell you something!" I shouted. She looked over at me and motioned for me to come over there. She was sitting in the hot tub, watching Fang and Dylan argue. That girl needs to pick which guy she likes already, geez. Iggy and Abby were having a deep conversation. Did he ask her out already? Last time I checked he was going to. Oh wait, back to the point. Maya, Christine, Star, and Kate were all talking at a table under an umbrella, and the rest of them were either swimming or sunbathing.

"What's up?" she asked.

I took a big breath. "There was a small disturbance over at the Grand Canyon..."

* * *

Max POV

Grand Canyon? That sounded bad.

"There were all these people there," Matt continued. "They kept shouting, 'Save the world, destroy the humans!' and some other crap. I think they were protesting, but it sounded weird to me..."

Uh oh. The DG, a.k.a. Doomsday Group. Maybe I should have listened to Jeb's "friendly" warning. But then again, he is a little lying, backstabbing jerk, so who knows.

"Oh, and they set off a small bomb," he added.

Iggy suddenly turned to Matt. "A bomb? What kind of bomb, do you know?"

Matt gave him a weird look. "No, I didn't see it. It didn't seem very effective, though, it only caused a lot of dust and excitement..."

All of the sudden, the kids that were in the pool screamed and ran out. Then, the water splashed all out of the pool. All of us ran out of the hot tube and crouched down. The force from the water was so great, it made the tables all turn over. After the water level went down, we stood up and examined everything.

Worried, I began counting everyone. Nudge, Gazzy, Angel, Iggy, I decided to count Dylan since he'd been hanging around us, and me, of course. I looked over at Fang, who had done the same thing.

"My flock's all counted for," he informed me.

"Mine too," I replied. "But..." We looked around. "Where's the other flock?"

Oh no. They disappeared.

* * *

Abby POV

Stupid bad guys. They always need a distraction. This time, it was a pool exploding. In the midst of the water, we'd just... Transported. I don't even know how.

We – meaning Matt, Jessica, Christine, Noah, Race, Pyro, and I – all coughed and tried to catch our breath. We were sopping wet.

We were in a dark room. There was nothing there, but spotlights set on us. Matt, Noah, and Jessica all huddled together, and the rest of us did so too. It was freezing in this room, and the fact that we were wet did not help.

"DO NOT TRY TO ESCAPE. THERE'S NO WAY OUT," boomed an ominous voice. It didn't sound like any particular gender, the person was probably using voice-changing technology.

"Who the heck are you?" I decided to ask.

"I AM SABAS."

Matt sighed. "That really doesn't help us."

"I AM THE HEAD OF THE DOOMSDAY GROUP. DO NOT TRY AND ESCAPE. THERE'S NO WAY OUT."

"You already told us that!" Christine shouted. We were all growing very impatient.

Then, there was a loud crackling sound. Right after that, we heard a very familiar voice.

"This is Jeb Batchelder right now," a tentative voice said.

"Where are we?" Race demanded. Pyro was shivering under her arm. If we hadn't been in such a bad situation, I would've been touched. They were so cute, almost like a little brother and his sweet older sister.

"You're in the School," he answered evenly.

"How did we get here?" Jessica yelled.

"You each have a transporting device inside of you. It's brand new technology, none of the others have it," Jeb responded.

"How in the world does that work?" Matt interrogated.

"It's very complicated, and we're not very willing to tell others about it and spread it around," Jeb sighed.

_Who would we even tell?_ I mentally asked myself. This was getting annoying.

"Why are we here, Jeb?" I asked as calmly as I could.

He did a little chuckle that sent shivers down my spine. "We need to get rid of the rest of the flocks. Max needs to save the world with Dylan so she can lead the world."

"And have babies with him?" Matt questioned with a look of fury on his face. I think it was very clear that we didn't want to have to come back to the school. Ever again.

I could just picture Jeb shaking his head disappointedly, as if we were little kids who needed a time out. In my opinion, the whole School staff needed a time out. In jail. "Yes, for lack of a better term, 'have babies with him'."

"Then what are you going to do with us?" Pyro asked, his voice shaking.

Jeb gave a sad sigh. "Unfortunately, you guys escaped and weren't quite ready to be let out. We never finished your training, and you made all the wrong moves. We designed all of you to support the original Flock, but you were too independent."

Oh, we'd had it by now. Noah decided to let it all loose. "You can't design us! We're normal human beings, not your experiments! You can't design our personality!" Poor kid had to grow up so dang fast...

Jeb decided not to respond, and he turned the lights off. He still hadn't answered the question of what they were going to do with us, but I had a feeling that it wasn't a very good thing.

* * *

**Ok the better action is coming, I assure you. And this is to Jessica: If you don't know what to write next, I'll text it to you or send it in an email. **

**I'm sorry, this chapter was a bit jumpy.**

**Now, you're all probably wondering if Jeb is a part of the DG. Well, if it wasn't obvious, he kind of is, but just wait. We're not going to leave it as a plot hole, I assure you. And if you're wondering who Sabas is, don't worry, we'll also explain it later. **

**But while writing this, I came up with sort of a plan. So yeah. Bye. **


	27. Chapter 27: Carl

**A/N: Heyyyy... Jessica here! Yeah... I'm at the library while writing this! Abby's sitting next to me! WOOO!**

**Paperclipgail1728: Haha, sorry, but there is no hidden meaning in Sabas' name. We needed a name and Abby's brother's friend said we could use his middle name. Wait, hold on. Abby just created one. **

**So we have a new competition! Be the first to guess what each letter in Sabas stands for and you get our congratulations! WOOO!**

**CheyRainAwesomeness: We were not on drugs, ha. Sorry to disappoint. Our theory is that our blood is actually caffeine.**

**WE HAVE A POLL! Go to our profile and guess who dies! And please tell us if we missed a character.**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Carl

Jessica POV

Alright, now, word to the stupid (cos the wise don't need help), if you're trapped in a room and there is a door unlocked, don't go through it. Seriously. It's always a trap. _Always. _

So, can you guess what our flock did?

* * *

When asked, I will always tell you, the smartest people in our flock are me, Abby, and now Pyro. Noah doesn't count cos he has super smarts. Anyway, we were in the room we were teleported to and - quite suddenly - the door opened. Creepy much?

"Trap," was what me, Abby, and Pyro announced loudly.

"What makes you say that?" Noah asked.

(_Not so smart now, are ya twerp?_ I thought.

_Jessica! Be nice! _Abby scolded me.)

"It's kind of obvious," Pyro snorted. "But, I say we go through the door anyway. Adventure and all."

So, after much arguing, me and Abby (the only _sane_ people here) were outnumbered. We went through the door.

* * *

The giant dude strode over to us. "I am Sabas! You will never defeat me!"

Pyro turned his head and cupped a hand to his ear. "What was that Carl? Sorry, I didn't catch what you said."

And this is what happened when we reached the trap. Fail.

* * *

**Recognize your line Myrtle?**

**Yeah, the Carl thing is an inside joke between me, Myrtle, and Abby.**

**I'M SORRY IT'S SHORT!**

**~Jessica**


	28. Chapter 28: New Mission

**A/N: I am also at the library. These headphones are really hurting my head… But anywho! I want to discuss quite a few things in this author's note. Why? Cuz I can! :D**

**So I've done a lot of thinking. And I have made some strides here. I HAVE DECIDED THAT SINCE EGGY WILL VERY MUCH LIKELY HAPPEN IN THE LAST BOOK OF MR… I will be happy for Iggy! Because there are other fish in the sea (There's one that I very much like… But let's save that for later.) But I also want to put it out there that I began writing this story before the 7th book came out. Before Ella suddenly intruded on Iggy's life. To be honest, I'm more of a Niggy fan… But once again, WHATEVER! So yeah. I guess that's it. **

**Enjoy! We're going to pull more focus on Max! (And I will say it again – WE ARE DIE-HARD FAX FANS! We do not like Dylan.)**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Eight: New Mission

Max POV

I stared blankly at where Matt's hooligans had been. **(A/N: Ha ha Jessica I came up with a name for the gang! I like the name!)**

"What in the world…" I heard Fang mutter under his breath.

Then, it got even weirder. Jeb came with my mom and Dr. G-H.

Dylan looked at me. "Wasn't he supposed to be dead?" I shrugged, also very confused. A couple of weeks ago, all of my Flock (except for me because I was smart) had been on an airplane that crashed into a weird unidentified floating object. We saved everyone except for Dr. Goonie-Hoonie because he'd mysteriously disappeared. And people wonder why I can't trust him…

"Max, honey…" Mom came towards me and gently touched my shoulder. "I'm sorry."

I gave her a confused look. "About what?"

She gave me a sad look before Dr. G-H interrupted. "Max, we've put this off long enough. The apocalypse is coming sooner than we thought. You need to stop the Doomsday Group now."

I decided to try and get some info out of these guys since the voice was never helpful with that. "Is the Doomsday Group supposed to bring the apocalypse?"

Dr. G-H shook his head. "We never predicted them to, but they will bring an early apocalypse."

"And so how exactly are we supposed to stop them?" I asked.

"We can't tell you that, Max. You're the one saving the world," my mom added softly. I still didn't understand why she was so sorry before…

"And we need you and Dylan to-" Dr. G-H began.

"No! She's not ready yet! Put that off for now!" my mom exclaimed.

I felt sick. "You guys are going to put it off? Isn't it me that we're talking about, not you guys?"

Dylan began to protest. "Yeah, we're going to do that on our own!"

I stepped on his foot. Hard. "Dylan, we're not going to do that at all." Ok… I didn't even think that sentence fully through before I said it. I hadn't really decided if I liked Dylan. But I guess my subconscious mind made the decision. However, I decided to ignore that.

Dylan and Dr. G-H looked a little offended, but I ignored that too. "Listen, I'm fifteen, and I don't plan on reproducing at this time. But back to stopping the DG. Where's the head of it located?"

"Washington DC. We don't know which building, however," Dr. G-H told me.

I nodded, thinking. Finally, my leadership skills kicked in and I made a plan. "Ok, my flock. We're all flying to DC. Fang and Maya, we also need you two. For the rest of Fang's gang – if you want to come, you can, but the people with wings need to stick with each other."

They nodded. I thought to Angel, _Tell them mentally to look for the Hooligans. I don't know if G-H is in on it._

She curtly nodded at me and looked at them.

Finally, a plan. It felt like forever since I'd been so sure of myself.

* * *

**There ya go.**

**(This is Abby back from the library.) I realize that this was a really short chapter for me. But I'm excited for the action that will come. Not to mention that Fax will eventually be reunited. :) So umm that's it I guess! Bye!**

**-Abby**


	29. Chapter 29: Pyro's Sense Of Danger

**Yellow yellow! Bananas are AMAZING. Always carry a banana. Never know when you're gonna need it…**

**TO THE POINT! Jessica here. Hi. Yup, I've gotten OFF my lazy bum and decided to update! Woo!**

**Also, I am now co-writing a story on flash5335's account, so if you're interested, check it out…**

**TO THE STORY!**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Pyro's Horrible Sense Of Danger

Jessica POV

It seems that Pyro has found a way to annoy the pants off bad guys.

Er…

Not literally. That'd be weird.

Anyway, back to the point. It seems that calling a bad guy 'Carl' is not really a good idea.

Especially when you call them that and they try to shoot you. Granted, he _missed_, but still. I really don't like seeing my adoptive brother _shot_ at. Did you think I _would? _

"Excuse me! I'm talking here!" Pyro exclaimed indignantly. "Really, Carl. It's not nice to shoot at people when they're trying to hold a pleasant conversation!"

"My name is Sabas. Not Carl," Sabas boomed loudly. Seriously, we're in the same room. No need to break our eardrums.

BANG.

Whoops, did I say that out loud? Don't worry, I dodged the bullet. Literally.

Anyhoozles, this friendly banter went on for quite a bit when something very unexpected and slightly irritating happened.

The white coat in charge of the facility that me, Race, and Pyro were raised, burst into the room.

"Frost!" she exclaimed, coming over to me and grabbing my arm. I stiffened. "There you are sweetie! We've been looking all over for you and your siblings!" she added, grabbing Race as well and motioning for one of her goons to grab Pyro.

Simultaniously, I somehow managed to freeze her arm off me as Pyro burned the guy grabbing him. Race twisted out of her other grasp, breaking her non-frozen arm in the process.

And all three of us proceed to pass out when a third white coat pressed a button on a handheld remote.

* * *

**So yeah everyone, we thoroughly enjoy your guesses for Sabas's meaning. Abby has yet to tell me what it stands for...**

**So, show of hands, how many of you thought that someone was going to die in this chapter?**

**~Jessica**


	30. Chapter 30: Tension Rising

**A/N: Abby here. At the library. Again. LOL. I feel like I get more work done at the library. Anywho...**

**So I'm very proud to be writing CHAPTER 30! I would've never thought we'd get here in a matter of a couple of months. Also, I'm very happy we have close to 60 reviews. You guys are the best! *tear* **

**So onward with the chapter! I'm thinking there's gonna be some action, and a pretty big load of drama to come. (:**

* * *

Chapter Thirty: Tension Rising

Max POV

The Flock plus Fang and Maya flew behind me silently to DC, which was a surprise. Even Nudge. I didn't bother asking them if there was something wrong with them because we were all exhausted, and all we were really looking for was a nice hotel to spend the night in.

Finally, we knew we were there when we saw the red lights on top of the Washington Monument blinking at us. Fang flew up next to me.

"So, where do you plan on sleeping? A tree?"

I began feeling the familiar annoyed feeling I'd gotten when I saw him in Paris. "Why are you mocking me?"

He looked like he wanted to respond, but then shook his head and remained the same silent Fang.

"For your information, I actually have money to go to a hotel. So suck it," I responded.

Fang rolled those almost-black eyes at me, seeming to have caught on to my mood.

_He's not mad at you, Max,_ Angel thought at me.

I tried to mentally sigh at her. _Trust me, Angel, if you ever have your heart broken by a boy you used to love, you'll understand._

She gave me a sympathetic look. _He's hurt too, Max. Can't you guys just talk it out?_

I shook my head. _When he apologizes for leaving, then I'll consider talking it out._

I knew he wouldn't ever apologize. Somehow, he thought he was right in leaving me - I mean the Flock - and that I could deal without him. Well, he was being a complete idiot for doing so and not allowing me to even talk to Dylan. If I wasn't allowed to talk to Dylan, then he wasn't allowed to talk to Maya.

_I know, Max. Fang's being completely unfair,_ Angel tried to console me.

I just gave her a strange look. _Please get out of my thoughts right now. It's the only place where I'm allowed privacy._

She looked disappointed. _There's a nice hotel we can afford right below us._

Suddenly, I felt bad for being a little rude, but then figured she could read my thoughts anyways, so I didn't bother saying it to her.

She was right about the hotel being affordable, so we got two rooms, one for the guys and on for the girls. We didn't bother separating Fang and Dylan or my clone and I. Probably not a very good idea...

Let me tell you how it was a bad idea. Angel and Nudge wanted to sleep together, which left Maya and I for a bed.

"Why don't you just sleep on the ground if you don't like the idea of sharing a bed with me?" she sneered.

"You're not the leader. The leader gets the bed, no question. Unless you want to witness Cranky Max," I explained.

She jumped off the bed and got in my face. "I'm so sick of you waving your leadership around. You think you're so important! Well, if you haven't noticed, I'm the upgraded version of you!"

Well, that was just crossing the line.

"Oh, but you seem to be forgetting that I almost killed _you_. But I decided to let you live. I think you need to be a little more grateful," I spat.

Maya's eyebrows furrowed just as mine do when I'm angry. "You're really asking for it right now."

"Asking for what? This?" I 'politely' asked her before punching her in the nose.

* * *

**Ok, I wanted to finish this fight, but I figured it'd be better if I left it as a cliffhanger. (: **

**Wow. This was a short chapter. **

**So R&R! Thanks guys. **

**Abby OUT**


	31. Chapter 31: Because We're Teenage Boys

**Hello world, let's have a picnic! Jessica here.**

**So, finals started for us today. We have them on Monday and Tuesday and then we're FREE! SUMMER! WOOHOO!**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-One: Because We're Teenage Boys

Iggy POV

I honestly don't remember who's bright idea it was to leave Fang and Dylan in a room together overnight, but when I find out, they're dead.

Seriously, those two fight like a married couple, but _worse._

It's times like these I wish I was deaf instead of blind.

Things were actually going good for a while. They were being civil and everything.

And then Dylan mentioned Max.

I swear, sometimes I'm the only mature one. And I hang out with _Gazzy._ No friend of Gazzy's is mature. At all.

When you think of fights, you think of a girl's fight as a bunch of yelling, and insulting, and crying, right? And a guy's fight as punches, and kicks, and actual injuries, right?

Dylan and Fang are acting like girls.

I lay face down on my bed (me and Gaz claimed the beds before they even got in the room. Ha, they're stuck with the floor), burying my head with the pillow, trying to drown the two idiots out and get some sleep.

"That's it!" the Gasman exclaimed. "I'm gonna go see if I can sleep in the girl's room! I'm sick of this! Just punch him already!" And with that, the door slammed shut.

_Oh, how nice. Just leave me here alone with them. That's considerate. _I thought. Too bad he couldn't here me. _Hey, Ang, if you can hear me, will you tell Gazzy I said that?_

The argument started up again and I groaned.

"I get it, you both like her!" I shouted, sitting up in annoyance. "Just go tell her that and let me sleep. Oh, and Fang, you should apologize." I ordered them. "Now shut up. One more word and I'll throw bombs at you."

I dropped back into my previous position with a huff of irritation.

Finally, sleep.

* * *

**Ok, so I'm putting this in all my stories, so yeah: I would like to co-write a story in the form of letters. It'll be a Harry Potter story (unless you can come up with a better category that we both know). It can be for any characters you'd like, I'd just like to create a plot with you first. I already co-write two other stories (including this one, duh), but neither of them are in letter form, so I wanted to see how it would turn out. Please PM me if you are interested.**

**Very demanding, I know. Lol.**

**~Jessica**


	32. Chapter 32: Conflict Resolution

**A/N: Yo yo yo! I just realized that changed the layout for when you're logged in! *is slow* **

**Umm... but it said I spelled "just" and "realized" wrong. Huh? **

**Anyways, Jessica and I finished our exams, so we're free for the summer! It's annoying. I got all A's and C's. No B's - just A's and C's. At least I'm consistent. Pfft. **

**So anywho... here we go! **

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Two: Conflict Resolution

Max POV

It was a battle.

Maya grabbed me in a headlock first, but then I took her leg out from underneath her before she could start the punching. She let out a grunt before she got up, fists up, prepared for a fight.

Right as she tried to kick me, I grabbed her leg and swung her to hit the wall. She left a little dent where her head collided. Then, just as she was starting to stand on her own, I performed my famous roundhouse kick right on her stomach.

Maya coughed up a little bit of blood and then smirked. "Nice. But I'm not that easily defeated."

She got up quickly, and before I even knew it, she grabbed my head and brought it down to her knee. I could feel my nose cracking. Well, that was going to leave a bruise.

Then, her fist slammed into the side of my face. But I wasn't feeble. She didn't phase neither me nor my sarcasm.

"Cool - did you get your moves from watching TNA wrestling?" I hissed. We were both standing up facing each other, slowly moving in a circle. It was almost like a movie.

She raised her eyebrows. "Why? Too tough for you?"

I shook my head, laughing. "Never."

I kicked her under her chin, forcing her teeth to grind. She spit out a couple of broken teeth before ripping out chunks of my hair.

"Seriously?" I screamed. "You're turning this into a cat fight!"

"You brought this upon yourself! Fang is mine!" she shrieked.

That was the ultimate mistake.

I pushed her up against the wall with my hands holding her arms back and my knees holding her legs back. "Fang will never be yours. He loved me first. He said that I was the only girl he'd ever love. You're just a pathetic copy of me, and I can beat you any day. Face it. You're weak."

She snarled and tried to escape, but it was pointless. I had her cornered, and she was just too afraid to admit it.

Right at that moment, Gazzy entered our room. "Guys, Fang and Dylan won't shut up, and I'm just so sick of fighting-" He looked at us before shaking his head. "I'm going to the roof. Anyone want to follow me?"

Angel looked up, as if she were listening to someone's mind. "We need to get Iggy, too." She gave Maya and I a disappointed look. "Nudge and Gazzy, save Iggy from the guy's room and go to the roof. Max and Maya, stop it. We're going to talk this out."

Although I didn't appreciate being led by a seven-year-old, we all did as we were told. It was as if Angel had some sort of power over us. Maybe she was messing with our minds, I don't know.

The two ran off and we didn't see them again. Meanwhile, Angel got Dylan and Fang out of their room and brought them into ours.

"What happened here?" Dylan muttered as he put his arm around my shoulder. I immediately took it off.

Then, Fang and Dylan started yelling at each other, and then Maya and I did the same before Angel shouted, "STOP IT!"

We all turned to her. She had been so loud, it was scary. She was no doubt the most powerful girl under the age of ten in the world.

But then again, she's the farthest from normal, too.

"Sit down! This is ridiculous. You guys are being so immature!" She took a big breath before continuing. "Because it seems that all of you can't be civil in solving your conflicts, I'm going to help." Wow, Angel knew some pretty big words.

Nobody responded. In fact, they were all looking at anywhere but each other. We were really acting like a bunch of five-year-olds.

Angel sighed. "So let's start with the five hundred pound elephant in the room - Fang and Max."

I stood up. "Nope! We are not talking about that! That's completely private!"

Angel stared into my eyes. The bright blue that had once been there was now grey. It was as if her childhood had escaped her. She wasn't the cute little baby I used to know. "Max, sit down."

I sat down.

"You two need to learn to work together. Stop arguing. Fang, Max is still hurting because you left. If you could just apologize-"

"I left _for_ her! It was the right-" Fang stopped because Angel was giving him the same stare she gave me a couple of seconds ago.

"And Max, you need to stop harboring resentment towards him after he apologizes."

I just listened, almost mesmerized.

"Now, Dylan and Fang, you guys need to stop acting like you know what's right for Max. Let her decide who she wants to be with." She turned to Dylan. "Max isn't your girlfriend, by the way, so you can stop thinking that. Oh, and keep your thoughts clean. I'm only seven years old." Dylan's face went red hot, as did mine. He was having dirty thoughts about me...?

_Not that bad, Max, don't worry,_ she thought to me. I mentally sighed in relief.

"And finally, Max and Maya." She shook her head. "Stop fighting over Fang. Max, treat Maya with a little respect. All she wants is to be treated like a normal person. If you can be nice, then you two won't get in so many fights."

I wanted to talk back, but I put logic over emotions and shut my mouth.

Finally, Maya stood up. "I'm so sick of you guys and all of your problems! I'm out of here. I can't stand this one's bossiness," she said while pointing at me, "and frankly, I don't really care about saving the 'Hooligans'. C'mon Fang, let's go."

Fang looked up at her from where he was sitting. "Oh, I'm not leaving."

"What?" Maya put her hands on her hips. "We're a flock. We need to stick together."

Fang stared blankly at the wall now, seeming to be in thought. "Then stick together with the others because I am officially passing the torch to Kate."

Maya looked at him with disbelief. "You're leaving?"

When Fang didn't respond, Maya stormed to the window, jumped out, and flew away.

"Well, we solved one problem," I muttered.

* * *

**Ok, this was shorter than I thought it would be. I've been trying to write longer chapters since Jessica writes like 500 words. I'm sorry if it's boring. I just wanted Maya to leave already. :D Stay tuned for more conflict resolution (HINT HINT some Fax stuff coming up!) and, oh, I don't know, more action, more drama! LOVE TRIANGLE! AHH! Ok. I'm done. **

**By the way, I'm sorry if the fight scene is lame. I try, I try. :/**

**PEACE OUT SUCKAS!**

**-Abby**


	33. Chapter 33: Flying Flubbernuts

**Hi. I'm Jessica and apparently spicy food doesn't sit well with me. Yeah.**

**Also, I'm terribly sorry that I don't write long chapters, but there is actually a good reason for that. You see, my writing style is to write like I'm talking to someone, a habit that I picked up from the Leah journals. (Only Abby will get that reference, lol.) I tend to slip into that style even when it's not first person POV. That's why I'm bad at describing things, you should see me try to describe things in person. I use a lot of hand gestures. And people still don't get it.**

**And I have no idea what I got on my finals.**

**IMPORTANT: Race, Pyro, and I were the only ones to black out. We were taken to a seperate building. KEEP THAT IN MIND.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Three: Flying Flubbernuts

Pyro POV

I feel like I'm going to puke. Puking is not good. Blacking out is not good.

Wait, I blacked out? What?

"Pyrocifer!" Ms. Whitecoat exclaimed. She never told us her name, wonder why. "Good morning! How was your sleep?"

What? Sleep? I was asleep? Didn't I black out? "What? But... I thought... Wait... What? I... I'm confused."

Oh look I'm back in a cage. Here we go again.

Wait... Again? I'm always in a cage.

"Why are you confused, sweetie?" she asked. Why does she always call us that? We're not sweet, we're vicious.

"Where are Matt and the others? I see Race and Jessica, but where are Matt, Noah, Abby, and Christine? Where's Carl?" I questioned after a moment. The names felt weird on my tongue. Ms. Whitecoat gave me a weird look.

"Honey, are you feeling alright? There's no one with those names. And who's Jessica? Do you mean Frost?" she replied. I scrunched up my face in confusion, thinking hard. I tried to look at my sisters but she moved in front of me. That's odd.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a wing that wasn't my younger sister's.

Am I seeing things? It looked like my twin's wing.

Or was it all a dream? Did I imagine her wing?

Am I going crazy?

"It... it must have been a dream..." I wasn't sure if it was real or not, but I didn't tell her that. Even if it wasn't a dream, I doubt the scientists would want me to think that it wasn't.

"Yeah," she told me with a smile.

"Can I see my sisters now?" I asked, like I did every morning. Or every morning I've been in captivity.

"No," Ms. Whitecoat snapped curtly. I managed not to raise my eyebrows like I wanted to. I schooled my face into one of innocent confusion and flinched slightly, like I would if I weren't suspicious already. "Oh, I'm sorry sweetie! But they have tests today." Gullible.

"Oh. Okay. What am I doing today?" I asked, acting like I believed her. She smiled, buying my act.

"You've been such a good boy lately; we've decided to give you a day off," she told me. Seriously, I hate how condescending they are to us. It pissed me off to no end, but it's never effected me before so I just nodded to avoid suspicion. She smiled and went to wake up Race and Frost/Jessica/Chief/Twin/Whatever her name is. I'm just gonna call her Jessica.

"Let me out or I'll kill you dead," Jessica hissed when she woke up.

"Is there any other way to kill someone?" Race asked, raising an eyebrow at her comment.

"Actually, there is," Jessica replied, falling into their old banter with ease.

"Oh? And what is it?" I joined in, also raising an eyebrow.

"I could make her brain dead but still breathing." I laughed at her response.

"How would you do that?" Race asked, laughing.

"You'll see if this meanie-pants doesn't let me out soon," she replied, pointing to Ms. Whitecoat. I chuckled. Good ol' Jessica, making threats and then slipping into her childlike slang. She's such a weirdo. Maybe _that's_ where we get it from...

Still chuckling, I put my hands on the bars of my cage, increasing the amount of heat in my hands.

When the bars were hot enough, I pulled and created a space large enough for me to step out. Ms. Whitecoat turned a gun on my head and I wrapped a hand around it, soldering the opening shut. If she pulled the trigger, the bullet would make it explode in her face. I hope she pulls it.

She spluttered in shock. "What? How?"

"Yeah, you really should have gotten heat resistant metal," I said, smirking. "Now, hand over the keys." I held my hand out expectantly.

"No! Guards! _Guards!"_ she screamed.

I pulled my arm back and slammed my fist into her jaw. She crumpled to the ground and I knelt to pull the key ring off her beltloop.

"Hurry!" I exclaimed, tossing the keys to Race first, she was always better at finding the correct key to use.

She unlocked her cage and ran to Jessica's just as the guards burst in.

Holy flying flubbernuts, they have horrible timing, don't they?

* * *

**Don't deny it, you totally love the word 'flubbernuts', don't you.**

**Lol. So yeah, Pyro is based off of a friend of mine named Bilal who I call my 'little twin monkey brother' cos he's like a brother to me and, like in the story, he was born the day after me. I don't know why I call him a monkey. Anyway, the reason I included Chief in my list of names in this chapter is because I call him Commander and he calls me Chief. Commander and Chief.**

**I also call him Cinderella, lol.**

**About Pyro: he's really smart, he just doesn't show it. He's actually the smartest of the three. He acts like an idiot to throw people off. He considers Race and Jessica his siblings, even though he knows they're not really related. He would do anything to keep them safe, he just cares for them that much. He's pretty laidback, but can get serious when he needs to. Most of the time he and Race acts like they're the oldest of the three, when they're really not.**

**Yeah, I thought I should tell you about him cos he kinda faded to the background even though he's pretty important. Lol.**

**Why do right handed people wear their watch on their left?**

**Also, starting this Friday I'm not going to have internet access for a week, so I won't be able to update. Yeah.**

**I think I made Pyro really epic in this chapter.**

**My next chapter is going to be in Race's POV.**

**~Jessica**


	34. Chapter 34: Passing Time

**A/N: Yo! Wuddup? So I am writing this on my iPad, we'll see how this goes.**

**So I am about to give you an explanation as to why I haven't updated in a month. I was in Washington DC for a week, and then right after I was working. I'm done with my job now (it was only for a week). But that was at the end of June until the beginning of July. My explanation for before that was that I was being lazy and honestly I've had a case of writer's block. That's why I haven't updated my own stories as well. Well, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid one. My Maximum Ride fanfic has been on hiatus. We'll see when I can break through this soon... Because I've missed writing!**

**Myrtle - Angel didn't say that she didn't care about the Hooligans. That was Maya.**

**So that was long author's note. This chapter was meant to be light and fun, but it turned into a kinda angsty chapter. Get ready, though, because it will get more depressing. You're about to find out what Sabas stands for, though!**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Four: Passing Time

Abby POV

"I'm BORED!" Christine griped for the umpteenth time.

None of us responded. We'd been trapped in the same room for a couple of days. Christine had been trying to get us to talk, bless her heart, but we hadn't been feeling like talking lately. Other than an exceptional complaint from Christine and the occasional interruption from Sabas, it'd been relatively silent.

As I was laying on the ground, I cried silently to myself. I'd been captured once again by the people I'd convinced myself I'd never have to see. I guess us bird kids can't ever get a break.

I thought about Iggy. Right as we'd finally admitted our feelings for each other and sealed the relationship with a kiss, I'd been kidnapped. How cruel are these scientists? I guessed that they never had a significant other.

And where were Jessica, Pyro, and Race? One night they were there, the morning after they were gone. Matt had been heartbroken over losing Jessica. He and I at least could relate. We shared countless hugs throughout the past couple of days, trying to comfort each other.

"WAKE UP, PRISONERS," called Sabas. We all grumbled. We'd been awake, just very unresponsive.

"You know what?" Noah asked out loud.

"What?" Christine responded.

"This is boring! We need to have some fun!" Noah called out. Matt rubbed his bloodshot eyes.

I hugged my legs and laid my head on my arm. "What do you have in mind?" My voice sounded rough from not speaking for a long time.

Christine's hand shot up, as if we were in school and she was dying to be called on. "Ooh, pick me!"

"Just say it!" Matt groaned.

"Let's play 'Would You Rather?'!" she shouted.

Her and Noah nodded excitedly, but eagerly waiting for approval from both Matt and I.

We both looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure, why not?" I finally said after a long silence.

Christine bounced as we all formed a circle. Although I was really in the mood to lay around and wallow in self-pity, it felt good to get out of a fetal position.

"I'll start," Christine announced. "Would you rather lick a sock that's been on the road for a week, or drink a cup of vinegar?"

We all considered for a bit. "The sock," I answered.

Matt and Noah gave me looks of disgust. "The vinegar!"

I rolled my eyes. "Ok, my turn. Would you rather kiss Justin Bieber or lick the sock?"

"THE SOCK!" the boys practically screamed. Christine and I looked at each other and giggled.

"BE QUIET, PRISONERS," Sabas instructed.

"Shut up, idiot. We were just having fun," Matt retorted.

Then, right at that moment, a bullet whizzed in between Matt and I. The gang jumped up.

"What the heck?" Matt exclaimed.

Someone opened the door. All of us flinched in the light. We hadn't seen it in such large amounts in such a long time. My vision had been phased for a few seconds. When I could finally see, I wish I hadn't looked.

"Jeb," I muttered under my breath.

Jeb gave us a smile, trying to ease us. Well, it's pretty difficult to comfort a couple of mutant teenagers that you've kidnapped.

"I apologize for Sabas. He still needs more fine tuning..."

We all looked at each other, horrified. "You can't fine tune a human, Jeb," Matt told him.

Jeb shook his head. "No, Sabas is a robot."

"A robot?" Christine questioned. "But he looks and sounds kinda like a human."

"Well, he has human skin and some human organs. But he is classified as a robot. Sabas is an acronym for Sensory And Behavioral Active System, meaning he is a robot but performs functions as a human," he explained.

"So where did you get the skin and organs?" I quizzed. When Jeb didn't respond, I knew. "Glad to know you're still ruining people's lives." My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"So let's get down to business. Where's Race, Pyro, and Jessica?" Matt demanded, his voice deadly. He meant business.

Jeb showed us a remote and pressed a button. Suddenly, we all fell onto the ground, unable to move yet still conscious.

"We can't tell you now, but they might not all come back. As for you four..." He sighed. "You all are going to be put through a series of tests and determine if we should retire you or not."

"Retire?" Christine choked.

"They're going to kill us," Noah said. We all knew that that was the truth, we just barely admit it to ourselves.

"Your flock ran away, and since then you haven't put your special training to work! It's been a waste of money. We know all we need to know from this project." Jeb shook his head sadly once more. "Your testing begins in two days. Be ready."

After he left the room, we could finally move again. None of us spoke, though. We were experiencing many emotions, the strongest of them hatred towards Jeb and fear for the testing.

I went back to my corner of the room and returned to my fetal position. I whimpered, but the tears wouldn't come. I had no more tears left.

* * *

**That was pretty intense, right? Or maybe it's just me. I dunno, sometimes I feel like I wrote a good chapter, and then I reread it and it doesn't sound as good.**

**Anyways, I typed this on my iPad and on my iPhone, so if there are typos, I apologize.**

**No one guessed the right name for Sabas. It's ok, we didn't have a name for him for a while anyways.**

**Abby out!**


	35. Chapter 35: Stupid Selflessness

**A/N: "In me the scientist,/ Always stuck on, always trying this,/ I try to live on science alone./ Analysis and freaky sensitivity,/ We've gotta live on science alone." *dances to groovy beat* **

**I love that song...**

**Any Whovians in the house? Look up Whoverse Hoedown on YouTube by ladysoliloque2 if you want to watch something funny, I am a Scientist (Tenth Doctor) on YouTube by di0br to hear a groovy song, or read my new story Quirky if you want to see me and Abby in another adventure.**

**Myrtle: I am still up for a crossover! (Although, I have started one on my own *ashamed*) Should I PM you?**

**BACON NINJA: I am going to address all 3 reviews. 1 – You mean with the Doctor and he accidentally invented the banana daiquiri early? Yes. I always try to impart the Doctor's wisdom on non-Whovians. 2 – Sounds like a very wimpy guy... 3 – I only use my laptop for writing, and even then not so much. I only have an iPod Touch but I use it for EVERYTHING. And for shame! This story is strictly Igby and Messica! Lol.**

**Anyway, on with the tale.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride (or anything else I mentioned.) I'm waiting till I take over the world to do so.**

**You're going to hate me.**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Five: Stupid Selflessness

Race POV

I fumbled with the keys as Pyro let out a sound of annoyance.

"Really?" he yelled at the guards. "You just _had _to barge in now? You couldn't have waited until _after_ we escaped?"

Jessica rolled her eyes. "It's their _job_, Commander. They're not _supposed_ to let us escape."

"But Chief!" Pyro whined, turning his back on the guards to look at us. "They're the bad guys! They're supposed to keep failing miserably at their jobs!"

"Pyro," I said, not looking up from the lock. "Duck."

"Quack." This is normally where I would palm my face. Only he would quack while ducking.

I'm going to assume that the guard who had been aiming for him missed, mainly because of the harsh cussing I heard.

Finally! Jessica pushed out of the cage and threw herself at the guards with a vengeance.

She threw a punch. "That was for ruining our lives." She threw another punch. "That was for making me mad." Then she did a roundhouse kick. "And that was just for the heck of it." Three of the fifteen guards had been knocked out.

I grinned. She had used her own spit to freeze their feet to the floor.

"Your turn," Pyro motioned for me to go.

Laughing manically, I flipped, kicking a guard straight in the face. I took out five more, leaving seven for Pyro.

Around that point the guards were just like 'screw it' and pulled out the guns. Unfortunately for us, they had been watching the security cameras or something because Pyro tried to melt the nearest guard's gun. It didn't work.

His eyes widened. "Crap." They had used heat resistant metal.

Pyro ducked as he was bombarded with multiple bullets. The guards seemed to decide to take us on one at a time, leaving me and Jessica to creep to the window. I slid it open as quietly as I could (the gunshots masked it nicely). Jessica motioned silently to Pyro, telling him to crawl over to us. He shook his head violently, he was trapped. He dug in his pockets frantically as Jessica's face turned to one of horror.

"What's wrong?" I whispered. Why was she so horrified.

"He's looking for a bomb." I was still confused.

"So?"

She locked eyes with me. "He'll be caught in the explosion."

My eyes widened. "No."

She was strangely calm and resigned as she gripped my shoulders. "He's going to set off a bomb."

"No."

"Race, we can't stop him."

"No. He'll escape with us."

"Race, he's trapped. He won't."

I yanked my self from her grip, raising my voice. "How can you be so calm?"

"Because I need to be. I can't stop him."

I shook my head, burying my face in my hands. She pulled me into a hug.

"Race! Jessica!" Pyro called. Fresh tears were running down his face, much like my own. "Go. I'll make sure they don't come after you."

"No!" I protested as Jessica tugged me to the window. "No! We can't leave you! Not like last time!"

He gave me a sad smile. "I love you. I'm sorry I waited til now to say it, but I do. Much more than a sister. Look after each other, alright?"

I was full-out sobbing now as Jessica hauled me out. She made me run for what seemed like forever, away from the building. We were about thirty feet away when the building erupted in flame and I collapsed to the ground, crying my eyes out. I barely noticed Jessica's shield around us, I was in too much emotional pain.

"He's gone," I choked out.

Jessica rubbed her eyes, her face wet with silent tears. "Yeah."

"He's _gone,"_ I repeated. "He's _gone."_

I curled into a ball and choked out one last sentence before falling silent.

"He's _gone_ and he's _never coming back."_

* * *

***curls into ball and sobs***


	36. Chapter 36: Reunited

**Hi! Jessica here! Yeah… Abby had no idea what to write so she was like "You want to write?" and I was like "Sure." and now I'm here telling you this. Hello!**

**Sorry for screwing up the order. Again…**

**I'M FIFTEEN NOW! Yup, my birthday has passed! And a week before I went to an Owl City concert with Abby and our friend Ellie (who we based Christine off of) so that was fun.**

**So, me and Abby are using our fan fiction as ways to get out of our summer homework (or, as Abby puts it, we're just super dedicated).**

**My dad is reading over my shoulder as I write this sentence.**

**I have eight bug bites. I'm symmetrical!**

**I'm listening to music while I write, and I'm dancing in my seat.**

"**Who cares if you disagree? You are not me! Who made you king of anything? So you dare tell me who to be? Who died and made you king of anything?" I love that song… Especially the Sam Tsui cover.**

**Ok. Um. Focus Jessica… We don't own anything. To be perfectly honest, if someone came up to me and said "You can now own any published work you want, which will it be?" I wouldn't say Maximum Ride anyway. So don't sue please.**

… **I feel bad for Sue. Having a name like that…**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Six: Reunited

Iggy POV

So, apparently a lot had happened while I was asleep. Fang and Dylan had gone to the girls room to talk things out with Max, Maya, and Angel while Nudge and Gazzy went to the roof (they were gonna invite me but I guess I was already asleep by then) and it ended with Maya leaving (or so I'm told. I wasn't there, so I don't really know). Max had gathered us all in her room after that to discuss what we were gonna do next.

And then a government building a few miles away from our hotel blew up.

* * *

Jessica POV

We must have looked like a couple of nutcases, crying for no apparent reason in the middle of a charred clearing, my purple shield surrounding us like a protective bubble.

Race was curled into a ball, wracking sobs coursing periodically throughout her body. I sat cross-legged next to her, tears pouring down my face and obscuring my vision as I stared at my hands in my lap. We had been sitting like this for twenty minutes now.

"What the _heck?"_ My head darted up at Max's exclamation.

"Pyro died," I stated simply. I vaguely registered Nudge's gasp as I continued numbly. "We don't know where the others are. They might have been in the building for all we know. But Pyro set off a bomb so we could escape. He died."

"The others are alive," Angel interrupted. "I can barely hear them. They're on the other side of town. We have to hurry."

"Alright," Max stated, authority filling her voice. "Let's go. Lead the way Angel."

I canceled my shield and pulled Race to her feet. She was still crying, but quietly now. We unfurled our wings and set off after the Flock and Fang.

* * *

**Sorry it's so short. I just didn't know what to write… Now I feel like I'm letting you guys down... What with giving you an angsty chapter and then this short one... Abby, you have to write the next chapter.**

**I'm curious, and I've been meaning to ask for quite sometime now, how do you picture me and Abby? Not as the characters, but as the writers? Like what do you think we look like? I won't confirm anything, but I wanna know…**

**~Jessica**


	37. Chapter 37: Testing

**A/N: Hello friends! Jessica just updated and so now, I feel inspired. **

_**Ooooorganization, it's the best thing that's around...**_

**That was for you, Jessica! :D AND I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKED SAM TSUI! I LOVE HIM!**

**So I guess I'm writing the odd chapters now. Gunna have to get used to that. But I liked writing the evens! Oh well.**

**Jessica wrote a really short chapter. I guess I'll have to make up for it. I'll try!**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Testing

Abby POV

The day began with us waking up, consequently being tranquilized by the dumb Whitecoats. Definitely not a good start.

When I woke up, I appeared to be all alone. It was pitch-black, and no one responded to me. So I basically assumed that it was just me.

"THE FOLLOWING THREE HOURS WILL BE A TEST." called out the familiar voice of Sabas.

"Geez, you don't have to be so formal, Carl," I muttered with annoyance obvious from my voice. Then, I frowned as I remembered that Jessica, Race, and Pyro were still missing.

_They might not all come back,_ said a voice in my head. Oh snap, was I getting a voice like Max?

Then, I realized that I was replaying what Jeb had said yesterday in my head. Did they actually kill one of them? I swear, if all three didn't come back, I was going with Iggy and Gazzy to personally bomb the School and watch Jeb die. Ok, maybe that was a little morbid, but still...

"THIS TEST WILL QUIZ YOUR FIGHTING SKILLS."

I sighed. "So I'm going to be fighting for three hours straight?" When I didn't get an answer, I assumed that I was correct. "Cool, can I have some food though?"

"You will be getting your breakfast afterwards," answered Jeb, taking over the speaker for Sabas.

"Where are the others?" I questioned.

"They're going through testing as well, don't you remember?" I decided that I was sick of talking to Jeb, so I didn't respond.

"THE TESTING WILL NOW BEGIN."

Immediately, I heard a door open, but I couldn't see where it opened because apparently, the room where the door lead to was also lightless.

I stood, a little dumbfounded. Who exactly was I fighting?

My answer approached me from behind and pushed me down. It seemed like what Sabas was, a robot-humany thing. He had skin but seemed to move more like a robot. But anyways, I got back up and gave him a good ol' roundhouse kick to the stomach. He fell down, consequently.

"Is that it?" I called out.

Apparently, it wasn't. More and more of those stupid things kept coming at me in higher quantities.

* * *

Christine POV

When I woke up, I was in a very white room. There was one mirror, which I assumed was a one-way mirror. But the walls were white and the floor matched. Besides the mirror, the only other interesting thing was a treadmill with a bunch of cords with little suction cups hanging at the end attached to it. Oh, and there was a scientist.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Hudson," she greeted, holding out her hand to help me up.

Being a stubborn bird-kid, I ignored that and got up by myself. "What do you want?"

She lost her patience with me right after that comment. Not a good idea because I was planning on being even worse. I wasn't going down without a fight.

Her green eyes turned cold quickly and her gray hair seemed to get grayer. She was wrinkled, but not from the sun, I can tell you that much. She looked like she'd never been outside, which was probably true since she was a Whitecoat and all. I've come to the conclusion that they don't have souls.

"You will be tested for the next three hours on this treadmill. We designed for you to have a great muscular endurance, but you haven't been putting that skill to use ever. So we wanted to know if it still works or not," she explained, her eyes glued to me the whole time.

I shrugged and turned invisible. My mission was to escape, but unfortunately, I couldn't get past her. The room was too small to do anything but run on the treadmill.

"You can do this the easy way or the hard way, but you're going to be running either way."

I sighed and changed back. "Do I get any gatorade or something?"

She glared at me and began attaching the suction cups connected to the wires to my skin. I felt like screaming out, "Rape!" but had the feeling no one would hear me.

She directed me to the treadmill and told me that she was going to control the speed, and I had to keep running until I collapsed. Not your traditional workout.

I looked down to see that I was sporting fancy gym shoes and a new outfit designed for running. "Who dressed me?"

"I did," she called out before she left and locked the door.

I felt completely violated.

"Alright, the testing will begin in three, two, one," I heard from the speakers. Right after, the treadmill began, going speeds I hadn't ran at for at least a month. You know, before we escaped the School. I'd estimate the speed to be at least six miles an hour, which isn't super fast, but I was just warming up.

This was going to be a long three hours.

* * *

Noah POV

I was now being tested in a claustrophobic little room with little wires coming from my head.

I hated this test. I had to touch all these books and get all of the knowledge in my brain just so the Whitecoats could see my brainwaves or something. Normally, I wouldn't mind getting all the information from a single book that I'm interested in every once in a while, but having to do it with the most boring books one after another gets exhausting. I hated having all of those useless facts in my head. They were math formulas, American history, and books written in foreign languages that I could somehow understand.

Sometimes, I just hate being such a genius.

Finally, I stopped cooperating. "My head hurts. You're going to make it explode."

Suddenly, an electrical shock was sent through the wires and I collapsed from the excruciating pain. You know how in Harry Potter they have the Cruciatus curse? Well, the agony I felt is exactly what I would picture it felt to have that curse performed on you. It spread from my head to my entire body, causing me to convulse. Even after the shock was done, I was still shaking.

Then, I did something that I haven't done for years.

I cried.

* * *

Matt POV

To say that I was tired would be the understatement of the century.

I was way more than that. I seriously thought that I would die.

_Alright, Matty-Poo. After we get some rest, we're going to take the rest of the Hooligans and escape_, I thought to myself.

Why do I call myself Matty-Poo, you might ask? Cos I can, that's why.

I was being forced to test my skills with speed-controlling (To be honest, I totally forgot that I even had that power up until now.) by making people attacking me slow down. And it took me a while to master that talent again. So I had two black eyes, a broken nose, and a couple of broken ribs, not to mention bruises and cuts all over my body as well. I didn't want to even know what I looked like because I was sure it was equivalent to crap.

They told me I was going to be doing this for three hours, but I was pretty sure it was longer than that. It felt like a day, but I want to say it was less than that because whenever you're in pain, everything seems to slow down.

"And you're done," said the very nasally voice of a Whitecoat. He'd been watching me do this the whole time. What a creep.

"Do I get food now?" I asked.

"Yes, you may exit outside of the door and I will take you to the cafeteria."

Silly Whitecoats, how could they not know that that was my chance to escape?

Right away, I burst through the door and took off down the hall running for my life. I had the School's map in my head, I knew exactly where I was and how I could get out. Unfortunately, there were guards that took off after me, and they surprisingly run faster than me. I was guessing the scientists genetically modified them so they could do that.

Needless to say, they forced me down to the cafeteria and chained me to the table.

* * *

Abby POV

Finally after a long time, the lights went back on.

I saw beaten up Sabas's surrounding me along with my own blood all over. I examined my bruised body and saw a gaping wound that ran up and down my arm. It almost looked like it had been slashed open, which probably happened. I also had a few broken bones, but they would heal soon.

I saw a one-way mirror, no doubt where Jeb and Carl were watching me, and examined my injuries. I looked like I was dead, I was so abused.

I was lead out to the cafeteria by the two animals who had watched me. I tried to read Jeb's mind while he was grabbing onto my arm, but there was no thought. I wondered if he had a special mind blocking device or something. I didn't try to read Carl's mind after the first time because it hurt my head too much to do so.

When I got there, I saw the rest of my flock, all looking sickly. Matt and I were both equally wounded, Noah had dark circles on his eyes and little marks on his forehead, and Christine looked ill.

We didn't even say anything. We just knew that we were all in pain and quite possibly had just gone through hell.

* * *

**LONGER CHAPTER LONGER CHAPTER LONGER CHAPTER WOOT WOOT! *happy dance***

**So anywho, I felt really bad for Noah in this chapter. He's a little kid and they fricken hurt him. What despicable scientists. **

**Umm, yeah! There you go. Chapter 37. Hopefully I made up for the really really short chapter before. **

**BTW, Jessica and I have YouTube accounts, so if you want to know what we look like... Ha ha, but we'll share the names next update. **


	38. Chapter 38: Ventilation Shafts

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Ventilation Shafts

Jessica POV

"So. What have we missed?" I asked as we flew behind Angel. She was leading us in the direction she had heard the others' minds. We had been traveling for about ten minutes. Until I spoke, we had been trying to decide on a plan. "Anything important?"

"Well," Iggy said. "I fell asleep, Dylan fought with Fang, Max fought Maya, Angel played Dr. Phil, Maya left, and Nudge and Gazzy had a date on the roof."

"What?" Gazzy and Nudge exclaimed in indignation, faces ruby red. "We did not!"

"_Sure_ you didn't. _Sure..._ Anyway, we were in the middle of planning what to do next when we heard the explosion. Max, being Max, decided we would check it out. Then we found you," Iggy finished with a slight grin.

Race and I both tried to smile, but ended up grimacing. We were still in shock over Pyro's death, and we were having a hard time acting normal. We could tell that the Flock was a little shell-shocked, but not as much, seeing as they didn't know Pyro the way we did.

We were silent for another minute as we all flew on during an awkward lull in our conversation.

"So, what's been going on with you and the hooligans?" Fang asked.

I blinked. "Hooligans? What?"

"We gave Matt's flock a name, seeing as we already had 'The Flock' for Max's flock, and 'Fang's Gang' for Fang's flock. You guys are so strange, so we named you the Hooligans," Dylan explained, air-quotes included. I just gave him a look that clearly said 'you guys call _us_ strange?'

"Weird. But anyway, after we disappeared from the pool-" I began.

"How did you do that anyway?" Nudge interrupted. I rolled my eyes.

"The school did something that let them do that. They didn't explain how. As I was _saying_," I continued, giving Nudge a very pointed look. I hate being interrupted. "We ended up in a room with the door unlocked. Me, Abby, and-" I gulped, "Pyro acknowledged that it was a trap. But Matt, Noah, Christine, and _Race_," here I fixed a very pointed glare on Race, who grinned without shame, "didn't believe us and" another gulp, "Pyro wanted an 'adventure' so they ignored me and Abby and went through the door. So we followed them because we didn't want to be split up." I paused.

Race continued directly after I stopped. "We followed a hallway down to another room. There some kind of mutant robot came up to us. Py-" Race cut off as she tried to choke out Pyro's name. "Pyro made him mad and he started shooting at us. We dodged and the whitecoat who had been in charge of the building that we – me, Jessica, and Pyro – were raised in came into the room holding a remote. She pressed a button and the three of us blacked out. We woke up in the other building." She trailed off.

I picked up after her. "They were trying to make us believe that we had never left and that you and Matt's flock never existed. We knew the truth and tried to break out." I was silent for a few seconds as I replayed the moments before the explosion in my mind. "Me and Race were by the window, but Pyro couldn't make it over to us." I paused as my breathing hitched. "He... He set off the bomb and we escaped out the window. And... And then you guys came..." I trailed off as Race and I started crying again.

We flew on in silence as the others tried to find a way to console us.

Finally, we reached a large building and we came to a stop about thirty feet away.

"They're in there," Angel announced.

"How are we gonna get them out?" Gazzy asked.

We were quiet once again.

"Hey, Angel?" I asked. "Can you hear them?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Can you talk to them? In your head?"

"Yes..."

"Ask Matt if he still remembers the vents."

"What?"

"The vents. He has an innate ability to know the ventilation shafts like the back of his hand, regardless of the building he's in. Ask him if he can locate a way for us to get in and sneak us out."

"Okay..."

* * *

**Heyyyy guys. We're backkkkkk. Took a while, didn't we? Well, that's because school started again. So, Jessica here. I'm quite sad, we haven't gotten any reviews in a while.**

**Anyhoozles, do you remember how Abby mentioned Matt's "uncanny knowledge of vents in the School"? Yeah, I brought it back. WOO.**

**Lol, so, we're getting close to the end! Abby said she's gonna write an epicly long chapter, so BEWARE.**

**Haha yeah.**

* * *

**OH! Below, is a scene that is NOT a part of our story, it's completely UNRELATED but I'm adding it anyway. This is a JOKE.**

Jessica POV

So, all of us were watching Up, cos Abby decided we should watch a sad movie.

"Does their mailbox say 'Carl and Ellie'?" Pyro asked suddenly.

"Yeah." I replied.

We were silent for a few minutes after that. Then Iggy spoke.

"So Ella ends up married to that weird mutant dude?"

**Yeah, I was watching Up when I came up with that.**

* * *

"**What do gay horses eat?"**

"**Ha~ay!"**

**So yeah.**

**~Jessica**


	39. Chapter 39: The End

**A/N: I never thought this day would come! This is the last actual chapter of Sky Is Falling! Right after this I will post a whole chapter of an author's note explaining why we're choosing to end the story. But after that chapter, we're going to each write an epilogue and put it up so our story can have a happy ending!**

**It really bothers me that we're ending on an odd chapter though...**

**OH AND BY THE WAY. Jessica forgot to share our YouTube names: **

**Mine is the same as my FF AND FictionPress account: StarrVenus, ****Jessica's is PicturesOfFeet.**

**So yeah, I won't talk about the ending as much until the author's note, so until then, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The End

Abby POV

We woke up the next day, sore from head to toe from our testing that had taken place over the past two days. Because our scores lowered yesterday, the Whitecoats decided that we could have a day off of the testing to recover.

When I got up, I could barely move, but because of our awesome healing skills, I felt fine after lunch. We all sat in our boring, cold room talking about nothing important. We had no escape plan – every one of our attempts always ended in either being forced to stick with security for the rest of the day or waking up in a strange place.

The food at the School sucked – I'd forgotten already how bland it was after I got out. We didn't have a bed, but at least we didn't have to squeeze in the tight cages. We were only allowed to use the bathroom at certain times of the day. Overall, if I had to rate my experience from a one to a ten, I'd give it a negative five.

While we were in the middle of debating what we wanted to eat the most, Matt stood up.

"Whoa dude, are you now possessed or something?" Noah questioned, his eyebrow raised high, creating wrinkles on his forehead.

"Angel sent me a thought," he murmured, oblivious to Noah's comment.

"What did she say?" we all shouted frantically.

Matt's blank stare stopped right after so he could shush us. "She asked me if I knew any ways for them to get in. You know. Through the vents?"

We all nodded quickly.

He briefly looked around. "Crap, I don't see any vents."

Christine shook her head. "There's no way. No one can keep a room this cold in the middle of the dessert. There has to be another one around here somewhere."

"It's probably on the ceiling. Too bad I can't see it," Matt griped.

"We have night vision, why is it so dark?" I complained.

"It's probably pitch-dark," Noah said, uncrossing his arms. "Matt – put me on your shoulders and I'll feel the ceiling."

"What if the ceiling's taller?" I asked.

"We have wings, don't we?"

No one spoke while Noah felt the ceiling.

"I feel a drift coming – the vent must be closer," he softly informed us, completely concentrated. Finally, he knocked on the hard metal of what we assumed was the vent.

"Crap, it's screwed on," me mumbled, trying to figure out a way to open the vent.

_We found a vent, but it's screwed on,_ I though to Angel.

_Does Matt know where it leads to?_

"Matt, do you know where it goes?"

He slowly nodded. "Tell them it's on the west side of the building, covered by a large bush."

I quickly forwarded that thought to Angel and she told me that Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, and Max were on their way.

It was only a matter of minutes when we heard the metal being manipulated by Nudge. It made me think: the Scientists were so dumb for giving us powers that could help us escape. If they were actually thinking ahead, they would give us a useless power like turning our skin green or something.

Finally, the cover opened and all four slipped through the hole smoothly.

"I can see again!" Iggy quietly exclaimed while walking toward me. We both embraced briefly, knowing that we were in a hurry.

"I missed you," I whispered into his shirt, holding back from tears that I knew the others would tease me about.

"I missed you too," he responded.

"Ok, lovebirds. Let's get the show on the road," Max instructed. "I'm going to get in the vent first. Then Iggy's going to help lift up everyone, Hooligans going first. The plan should work smoothly assuming we all are as quiet as possible." She gave Nudge a quick grimace. "Ig, give me a quick boost."

Max expertly got in the air duct and held out her arms for Christine first. Then it went in the order of Noah, Matt, me, Nudge, Gazzy, and then Iggy. The plan actually worked, something I was surprised by.

When we got out, immediately Matt ran over to Jessica and gave her a huge hug. She squeezed him as well, and then they both kissed. It made me go, "Aww," and then Matt and Jessica gave me a weird look. I ruined the moment.

We took off and found a park where we could hide from the scientists while we devised a plan and were quickly informed of what we'd missed. Pyro died and Maya left? Geez, what a downer of an update.

"Alright, so we abandoned Jeb in DC, so now we need to stop the School for good," Max said.

"Umm, actually, Jeb was with us," I replied.

Max shook her head. "No, I was sure he was with us!"

"Does he have a clone or something?" Matt questioned.

"Either that or he knows how to teleport," Jessica grumbled.

Iggy stood up. "I say we blow up the School!"

Gazzy joined him. "I second that!"

"Sit down," Max instructed. She put her head in her hands and looked over at Fang, who nodded. Wait, were they actually getting along? I watched Dylan as he looked down at his hands. Christine was right next to him, staring off into space.

"Ig, I think that was actually a very good idea." But before he could jump and fist-pump, she said, "But it needs to be big enough that it'll destroy the entire School. We need to destroy all their data and all their supplies so it'll be impossible to start up again."

The smile on Iggy and Gazzy's faces stretched for miles.

* * *

My boyfriend's kind of a major geek. But that's ok because I'm one too. I just don't have much knowledge on how to make bombs.

We all decided that Gazzy, Iggy, Jessica, Fang, Race and I would all go in to help blow up the school. We had to go through a rigorous course from Iggy on how to set off the bombs and how long we had to escape.

Finally, after two days, we visited the School for (hopefully) the final time.

I was assigned to go to the exit hallway, which led to the exit (obviously), the finance room, and employee timecards. I was sort of tempted to know how much money the School had and how much it paid to torture human beings, but then I decided it didn't matter and that all I was going to do was blow the place up.

The School was not designed intelligently. All of their important rooms were right by exits. So escaping would be easy for all of us, except for Fang, who was blowing something up in the middle of the building. So the plan went that Fang would explode the records in the middle, then run over to Iggy, who was exploding supplies, and then after Iggy's bomb went off, the rest of us (minus Gazzy) would explode the three remaining exits, along with the important rooms nearby. After we escaped, we'd set off one final bomb, which Gazzy was going to do. He was going to wait above and drop their biggest bomb on top of the School. And we were going to fly up and join him, all laughing triumphantly.

Matt and Nudge helped us all get in through the air ducts. I checked on everyone to make sure we were all in safe, and once they were, I gave Fang the mental thumbs up. After about a minute, we heard the first explosion. Scientists went running towards the middle while the remaining four bombs were set off. I ran as fast as I could out the door and successfully made it before my bomb went off.

I began flying right after and met the four on top of the building.

"This is it," Fang panted, his voice sounding hoarse from the smoke. "It's over after this one."

We all grabbed onto the bomb and counted off.

"THREE!" we shouted.

_It's almost done..._

"TWO!"

_We can be normal after this..._

"ONE!"

_No more stupid missions and running away!_

We dropped the bomb and flew straight up to get out of its path.

_BOOM!_

* * *

Once again, we relied on Matt's saving's account to rent a hotel room. We decided to all cram into one small room.

We all huddled around the TV, watching the news. Fang and Max had secretly reconciled and were now "just friends". But we all saw them cuddling on the couch. It'd only be a matter of time before they'd admit their love for each other and run off and get married. Christine and Dylan had both become friends over the course of three days, and were watching TV on the ground. Nudge and Gazzy watched together on the floor as well. We all had decided to stop teasing their crushes for each other because they'd start blushing and Gazzy would fart. We were fine with the blushing. It was just the farting we couldn't stand anymore. Noah and Angel played together in the other room, finally acting like their age. Race joined them too, uninterested in the news. Jessica and Matt cuddled on the couch as well, happy to see each other again.

And Iggy and I... Well, we cuddled too. Heh heh.

"Tonight was filled with a mixture of feelings as the popular Doomsday Group's leader resigned," the news reporter announced.

Immediately we all began paying attention.

A familiar-looking woman appeared on the screen. Apparently she'd called a press conference. "Today, for personal reasons, I have decided to resign from my post as leader of the Doomsday Group. I also have cancelled all planned rallies and the Doomsday Group will become inactive."

We all stared at each other with disbelief.

The reporter came back on the screen. "After questions were asked, we learned that the headquarters for the DM had been destroyed an hour earlier."

Max jumped up. "It was the School! They were associated with the School! Jeb was lying the whole time!"

We all gave each other hi-fives, proud that we'd hit two birds with one stone.

Fang turned off the TV after our brief celebration.

"So what do we do now?" Gazzy thought out loud.

Nudge raised her hand, obviously ready to explode if she wasn't called on. Max nodded at her. "Can we find a place to, you know, actually live?"

Fang and Max smiled at each other. "We've already got that planned out."

"Spill it!" Matt urged, impatient to hear the answer.

"My mom said the CSM had somewhere for us," she answered.

The Flock all cheered while us Hooligans looked around at each other confused.

"Who's the CSM?" Christine finally asked.

"Oh, my mom and a couple of other scientists founded it not too long ago. It's the Coalition to Stop the Madness."

"Are they the good guys?" Jessica questioned, suspicious because they were scientists.

Max nodded in response. "Yeah, they're against the School."

"I thought your mom was on Jeb's side," I said.

Max sighed. "She was, but because she was brainwashed like the rest of the DM."

We went to bed shortly after the discussion of what we thought the house would look like and what was the first thing we were going to do when we got there.

* * *

Max led the way as we flew down to Arizona to see our new house.

I had mixed feelings about the future. I planned to visit my parents as much as I could, and I would be living with my best friends, but I was nervous about possible conflicts. Would Jeb come back? Would the School start up again?

But I guess that's the fun part about the future – you never know what will happen. That's why we take it one day at a time.

The house was right next to Dr. Martinez's, and it was bigger than our last home. It had one big dining room (along with a huge kitchen, which Iggy was happiest about) and a gigantic living room with a plasma TV and couple couches for us all to sit on. It also had an indoor pool and hot tub in the basement, which was awesome.

Each of us had to share a room with one other person – I picked Christine, Jessica was with Race, Gazzy was with Iggy, Matt was with Noah, Nudge was with Angel, and Dylan, Fang, and Max all got their own rooms. Yeah, we decided to keep Dylan since he'd recently began to get over Max and took a liking to Christine. But we were still apprehensive about Dylan and Fang sharing a room. As for boy/girl pairings, well, that wasn't going to happen until we got married, as Dr. Martinez instructed sternly.

We celebrated our new lives with delicious dinner (courtesy of Iggy and I) and awesome movies, along with popcorn. We were all really excited about the prospect of being together, safe, for a long time.

And that was all we needed to be happy.

* * *

**So I KNOW it was kind of a cheesy ending. But the bird kids deserve a happy ending since their lives have really sucked so far. So yeah. There you go. **

**This chapter was six freaking pages long on my computer. It took me FOREVER to write! So you're welcome.**

**I will post a long author's note shortly after this explaining why we're ending the story so suddenly and yeah! Then it'll be even cheesier epilogue time!**


	40. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**THIS IS AN AUTHOR'S NOTE. SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE AUTHOR'S NOTES, I SUGGEST YOU DON'T READ THIS.**

**So anyways, hello there. I just finished and put up Chapter 39, the final chapter of SIF! We almost made it to 40 chapters, which, to me, is an accomplishment. **

**I wanted to put up an explanation as to why we decided to end it after Chapter 37. **

**Jessica and I are in high school, and we each take 3 honors classes and 1 AP class. Our homework load is the opposite of light. We typically have 4 hours of homework a night, sometimes less, but often more. We are also huge procrastinators. **

**Basically, we write when we can, and sometimes we even put it off. **

**Also, writing a story with two authors is very hard! Sometimes you feel like writing a chapter, but you can't because you're waiting for the other person to write theirs. We experienced that a lot throughout this story, so it feels good to almost be done. **

**So the reason why we decided to finish it up is because we definitely don't have as much time as we had in the beginning and we felt like the story was not going to be as good if we introduced new conflicts, new characters, etc. I think we ended it at just the right time. **

**As for sequels, we really don't know what is in the future, but as far as I know, we don't plan on making any. We might do little one-shots here and there, but other than that, nothing has been planned. **

**I want to thank our readers so much! You guys made us very happy. We're both very proud of the fact that we have gotten 77 reviews! It may not seem like a lot, but to us, it is! It's been great to see that other people like our writing and it really has encouraged us as writers. I know we got really lazy towards the end with updating, but we really commend the readers that have stuck with us all the way! I'm sure it's been an interesting, confusing ride, but thank you so much!**

**We have enjoyed writing this story a lot. It's been a really fun activity for us to do as friends. This is the longest story both of us have written, so that's pretty exciting. **

**As for any more stories, I think Jessica and I will write more stories together, just different plots and characters, and possibly different books/movies/TV shows. But I don't think any other will compare to this story – we never thought we'd write an over 40k worded story. **

**Thank you fellow Maximum Ride enthusiasts, we enjoyed writing for you! Can't wait for the last book to come out, that's for sure. Thank you for reading our weird story, our ADHD author's notes, and reviewing! It's been fun! **

**-Abby & Jessica**


	41. Epilogue Part 1

**S'IL TE PLA****Î****T****, JE NE VEUX PAS MOURIR. JE SUIS DESOL****É****E!**

***cowers***

**Heh... Tiens..**

**ACK. TU NE PARLES PAS LE FRAN****Ç****AIS...**

**Sorry guys... so...**

**Heh... Hey...**

**Um... again, please, I don't want to die. I'm sorry!**

**So, um, yeah. I'm sorry for taking so long... (Jessica here, bytheway) Um, I'll get straight to the story after some important announcements.**

**IMPORTANT ANOUNCEMENTS.**

**There. All done. *smile***

…

…

**No, I kid. But seriously:**

**1. This is the Epilogue, which me and Abby (for some reason, I wanna call her Abs. Dunno why. Anyways) are co-writing (hey, just like this story! WUT.) So, the POV will change at the second part.  
**

**2. After this, I'm going to write a prequel, which will be the story of Pyro, Race, and Frost/Jessica. I haven't started it yet, but if you're interested, keep an eye out.**

**3. (Not-so-important but I want you to know:) I went as Matt for Halloween! … … … A different Matt... Death Note Matt... But he's a Matt! (cos, really, I know a lot of Matts. Bird-Matt from this, Leader-Matt from my church, Moldywart-Matt from school, my-aunt's-current-husband-Matt who she just married, Mafia-Matt from Death Note, Canada-Matt from Hetalia, my-nickname-Matt, Eleventh-Doctor Matt Smith, etc.)**

**4. *singing to the tune of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything* We are the writers! Who don't own anything! We just sit here and mess around! And if you ask us, to write anything, we'll just tell you... WE DON'T OWN ANYTHING!**

**Ok. ONWARD MY MINIONS.**

**(I AM A PAGE BREAK. HERE ME ROAR.)**

Epilogue: HAHA EP-EH-LOG IS A FUNNEH WURD~~~

Jessica POV

Hey, welcome back. I'm not really sure who you are that I'm talking to, but you've been following me around for a while, so I thought 'why not'. (And, before, I was just narrating to myself. But now I have an audience! Weird, right?) So, yeah.

It has been four years since I last narrated my life, so I'm not quite sure how to do this anymore. But, I'm eighteen now, and Matt is twenty.

And, well, how do I put this? Er...

We eloped.

Yeah. Like ten minutes ago.

Seriously.

And, yeah.

You wanna know how we ended up doing that? Ok, to explain, we gotta back up a bit.

**FLASHBACK FLASHBACK FLASHY FLASHY FLASHBACK**

_Year: um, one year and a half after chapter 39. I think._

"_Five Iron Frenzy! They were good, they were good, they were really really really good! Five Iron Frenzy! And when you see them, we really really think you should thank them for being so cool and so awesome and thank them for being so neat-o. __Look at their teeth and then tell them to floss them. I think Reese is wearing a speedo!"_ _Matt sang, really loudly._

"_Matt?" (that was me speaking.)_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Would you kindly _shut up_?"_

"_No?"_

_I groaned. "Maaatttt," cue the whiny voice, "I have a headache."_

"_No you don't! You were just listening to your iPod! I saw you!"_

_Rubbing my eyes, I replied. "Fine. Can you please stop though? I'm bored."_

"_What do you want to do?"_

"_I dunno. Extreme Trampolines?"_

"_As a date?"_

_And, cue my face turning red. "Y-yeah..."_

_And then Matt let out an extremely loud 'whoop!' that showed just how long it's been since we've had a proper date. Cos every time we do, Abby and Christine make a fuss because we're 'Aw! So cute!' and it's embarrassing so we just avoid it. … And cos Dr. M (Max's mommy) thinks that since Matt just turned eighteen, fifteen year old me (who was turning sixteen soon) should not be alone with him. Cos apparently now that he's a 'grown-up' he wants to do bad things to me or something. Preposterous, innit?_

_Anyway._

"_What was that?" a startled Iggy shouted from the kitchen._

"_Nothing!" Matt and I shouted back simultaneously (cos we're in sync and stuff)._

_We were silent for a bit. "We should bring Noah and Angel so the others don't think this is a date," I suggested and Matt gave his agreements before we wandered off to find the two youngest flock members._

_(For you curious cats, our flock, formerly dubbed "Matt's Hooligans" had merged with Max's because of two reasons, and two reasons alone._

_And the names of those two reasons were Iggy and Abby. Those two are pretty much inseparable. I swear, they're worse than Fang and Max, and I don't think those two are capable of not making out or holding hands or cuddling or _something_ for more than an hour._

_And then there's Dylan and Christine who are oh-so-obviously in love with each other and every one can tell. _EXCEPT THEM._ UGH. I swear! They're blinder than Iggy!_

_Nudge and Gazzy have reached the stage where they've just realized they like each other, so they're incredibly awkward to be around._

_And Noah and Angel are always together cos they're little kids and innocent like that.)_

_So, Noah and Angel agreed and we yelled out to those in hearing range (pretty much anyone in and around the house) where we were going. Eventually we got to Extreme Trampolines, which for those of you who don't know, is a warehouse filled with trampolines that is pretty much a place to go to hang out and you know, jump on trampolines. It's fun. They have a dodge ball court on one of the trampolines. And a foam pit. You should check it out sometime._

_ANYWAYS. We got there and jumped and had fun and stuff._

**(I AM A PAGE BREAK. WATCH ME EAT YOUR BRAINS.)**

_Noah and Angel were off playing in the kids area (Some girl tried to give Noah a hug __and he freaked out, it was pretty amusing) while Matt and I ate ice cream and talked._

"_So..." He began._

"_Ouais?" I replied, which is French for 'yeah' in case you didn't know. I like speaking French. I've been teaching myself._

"_Um... Je veux poser toi..." Matt continued and I raised an eyebrow. I know we're learning French together for fun, but he doesn't like using it in public, that's usually my thing. _**(By the way, he said "I wanted to ask you...")**_ "Vas-tu me maries? Tu sais.. Quand tu as dix-huit ans... Mais, vas-tu? Parce que, je t'aime... _Beacoup. _Si... s'il te pla__î__t?" _**(This is my amateur attempt at saying "Will you marry me? You know.. When you're eighteen.. But, will you? Because I love you... A LOT. So... Please?" I'm sorry if I got it wrong; I'm only in French 3, but I think I conjugated this right. And no, I did NOT use Google Translate.)**

_My jaw dropped. _How cliché is this? I LOVE IT! _I thought as I grinned and wrapped him in a hug. "Oui! Ouais! Je vais. Je t'aime aussi! J'ADORE TOI! Poulons-nous parler en anglais maitenant?" _**(Again, amateur attempt: "Yes! Yeah! I will. I love you too! I ADORE YOU! Can we speak English now?")**

"_Yeah. The French was fun but people are staring..."_

"_Haha yeah. They are. How rude of them."_

Congratulations! _Angel thought to me._ Don't worry, your secret's safe with me._ And I blushed bright red._

"_Little miss mind reader knows, doesn't she?" Matt asked with a chuckle. I laughed and nodded. "No surprise there."_

**END OF FLASHBACK END OF FLASHBACK GOODBYE FLASHBACK SONG.**

We talked about it every now and then after that and eventually decided to elope when I had been eighteen for a few months.

And here we are now. On the run for our lives because Abby and Christine just found out. And they are absolutely LIVID that they weren't invited.

So we're running from them.

Seriously, Angel sent me a thought telling me how they had gotten in a cab after we did and literally shouted "FOLLOW THAT CAB!" How awesome is that? (We decided to go somewhere super public so they couldn't use their wings.) Then we hopped in a taxi and, after getting that thought from Angel, shouted "THAT CAB IS AFTER US! LOSE THEM! WE'LL PAY YOU TEN BUCKS IF YOU DO!" in ridiculous voices and the taxi driver laughed and obliged.

Ah, good times.

ACK! THEY CAUGHT US.

**(JE SUIS UNE PAGE BREAK. JE SUIS FRENCH.)**

**HAHA. Here, have a cliffy!**

**So, this is the end of my part. I'll miss you guys, but not for long. Remember the prequel! (I'll post the first chapter on here as a preview when I start it, 'kay guys?) So, I'll let Abby ramble at you now.**

**BAAAAAIIIIIII GUUUUUUIIIIIZZZZZZ!**


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